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No Disaster Declaration for Mountainburg After A Tornado Rips Through Town

MOUNTAINBURG (KFSM) — The cleanup continues in Mountainburg on Sunday (April 15), but officials learned they will mot be receiving federal funding to help...

MOUNTAINBURG (KFSM) -- The cleanup continues in Mountainburg on Sunday (April 15), but officials learned they will mot be receiving federal funding to help them get the job done.

It was announced by Emergency Managers that the community will not be declared a disaster after it was hit with an EF-2 tornado on Friday (April 13).

Emergency managers said damage to county roads and buildings must equal $228,000 to be eligible to receive financial assistance.

Right now estimates do not meet that number.

Meanwhile,  residents continue to cleanup and everyday they continue to see more and more volunteers looking for a way to help.

"What we have here at City Hall is, we are pairing that with the needs we have, not only in Mountainburg, but also in the outer areas," said Mountainburg Police Chief Vincent Clamser.  "So we can get those resources to the people who need trees cleaned-up ...  or other debris moved."

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson also stopped by Sunday to asses the damage.   He toured the area and met some of the residents who were affected by the tornado.

"You see the scores of volunteers that are here, people from all over the River Valley that they see a neighbor that is hurting. They look out in their yard and they see the right equipment and say, 'this is needed.' They get their chainsaw, they get their front-haul loader and they get out there and they start doing work for neighbors.   So, I wanted to thank them [today] and also to be able to assess the damage," said Gov. Hutchinson.

Crews said it will take months to clean up all the debris left behind, but residents said they are confident they will bounce back.

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