SPRINGDALE, Ark. — March 30, 2022, is a date that a lot of people in Springdale will remember forever. It's the day an EF-3 tornado turned people's lives upside down. More than a month later, many are still waiting for help.
"This is taking too long, it’s more than a month, month and a half since all this happened. So we appreciate but we need help sooner," said Springdale resident Angelica Romero.
Romero says her home was severely damaged by the tornado that ripped through the town more than 45 days ago.
"The first week the Red Cross came and told us about the only help we can receive is $500 per family but that’s it," she said. "That’s all the help that we’ve had. As you can see, everything is the same."
The same damaged houses, the same roofs with tarps to protect their homes from the outside elements, the same piles of trash on the curbs and the same dumpsters are full of what used to be their lives.
"We are still trying to find help to repair my house, cause we don’t have a place to stay," Romero said.
Many in Springdale are still asking, how long will they have to wait to finally get help? How long until the money, any money, comes their way.
"You go through a disaster such as a tornado, it’s hard for you," said LaTresha Woodruff, Arkansas Department of Emergency Management (ADEM) spokesperson. "You’ve lost things, you’ve lost your home and you just want to get back to some sense of normalcy and you just want help. We understand that, but there’s a process, however."
Woodruff says ADEM is one of two groups trying to help those affected by the tornado. ADEM offers an individual assistance program, which can give people some money, but not a lot.
"That program does not have endless money in it," Woodruff said. "There lies the frustration for people because they want to get help and they feel like they need more money and we understand that but the program only has so much money in it for us to be able to get out."
The individual assistance is a state-run program whose deadline has already passed. The only other option at this point is a small business loan. That loan can get you more money, but everyone who needs help may not qualify.
"Because these are loans, these are taxpayer-backed loans, they have to be repaid, they can not be forgiven," said Rick Tillery from Small Bussiness Administration Disaster Assistance. "One of the things at the forefront of the approval process is the applicant's ability to repay the loan."
With limited options, many are wondering where else they can get help.
"Typically you’ll have charitable organizations involved with disaster survivors who did not meet the qualifications for an SBA disaster loan," Tillery said.
That seems to be where the tornado victims have been left, waiting for a charity to step in and fill that void.
"It’s hard, like I said, not just the bad experience. For me, it’s hard to go through all this, cause I don’t know how long it’s gonna take," Romero said. "We are trying to put our lives back together again. I think if we don’t receive the help, then we’ll have to leave this here and start a new life maybe."
It’s important to note that the individual assistance program cannot give out any money until after the SBA loan applications are processed. So as of today, no SBA loans or individual assistance money has been given out.
Click here if you would like to give monetary donations to those impacted by the Springdale tornado.
Other donations can be sent to or dropped off at First Church-Springdale located at 206 West Johnson Ave. Springdale, AR. 72764.
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