ROGERS, Ark. — One year after an EF1 and an EF2 tornado touched down in Benton County, some homes are still being rebuilt.
The tornadoes ripped through areas in Siloam Springs and Rogers. Many homes sustained damage from uprooted trees and strong winds. Repairs to several of those homes are still going on a year later.
There is still some mulch leftover from city clean up efforts in Rogers near the high school. Mayor Greg Hines says the supply will stay there until it is used up.
Officially, the City of Rogers requested over $600,000 in relief aid from FEMA, which the mayor says was denied. He says the real cost of clean up could be in the millions.
"The claims file we sent to FEMA was for around $660,000, but that doesn’t include what might have been included for Rogers Water Utilities, for Carol Electric, for SWEPTCO, so it’s untold millions of dollars that it cost ultimately," Hines said.
Luckily, there were no injures or deaths reported from the two tornadoes that hit Benton County in 2019.