“This could get up to a million dollars in damage," said Benton County Judge, Bob Clinard.
McGowen said the survey was done in conjunction with the Benton County office of Emergency Management, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) and the Benton County Road Department.
McGowen said 126 sites were documented as damaged and needing repair.
"Based on the damage seen, we estimate the cost to repair the county roads will exceed $700,000," McGowen said in a news release Tuesday (May 7.)
There could be more damage that is not known of at this time, according to McGowen.
"Yesterday when we were out assessing damage we had a phone call from a gentleman who told us about damage on a road that we didn't even know about and that nobody had been down yet so, it appeared to be about the second worst damaged site we had," said McGowen.
The amount is an estimate based on the amount of labor, equipment and material the departments believe the repair process will take, McGowen said. He said they will not have a finite total until all the work is complete.
Next, the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management will write up worksheets for all the damaged sites. After that, Benton County has nine months to complete all the repairs, then an additional three months to complete and submit the documentation for costs to the state, McGowen said.
"Once all of the documentation is received by ADEM, we can receive 35 percent reimbursement of our cost," he said.
The release also states the cities of Bentonville, Centerton, Gravette, Little Flock, Springdale, and Sulphur Springs identified damage and are seeking reimbursement from the state. Of those cities, Bentonville has a damage estimate of nearly $150,000. and the other cities damages total $100,000.