Sebastian and Crawford are among the 22 counties the Arkansas governor declared Friday as state disaster areas “due to damage caused by severe winter storms last week,” Gov. Mike Beebe said in a statement.
Several inches of snow and ice fell Dec. 5 and 6 on Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley, resulting in car crashes, slippery roads and business and school closings. Although many main roadways and streets are now clear, some rural roads and side streets still remain covered in ice.
Beebe declared the following counties as state disaster areas: Baxter, Crawford, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Independence, Izard, Johnson, Logan, Madison, Marion, Montgomery, Newton, Polk, Pope, Pulaski, Saline, Scott, Sebastian, Sharp, Stone and Van Buren.
Friday’s announcement comes eight days after the governor declared a statewide emergency due to winter weather, stating he had released $100,000 from his Disaster Fund to help with the initial response after the storm.
“The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management is already on the ground with representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in about a dozen of the affected counties,” Beebe said in a statement Friday. “Their joint efforts will determine whether Arkansas may qualify for federal assistance.”
