BENTONVILLE, Ark. — In a June 7 press conference in Bentonville, government officials gave an update on recovery efforts following the storms and tornadoes that occurred Memorial Day weekend, killing four and destroying countless homes.
“We're looking at almost 2600 reported properties impacted by the storm,” Benton County Judge Barry Moehring said. “75 destroyed, 265 suffering major damage, 893 minor damage, and 1260 that are affected.”
Rogers Mayor Greg Hines said the debris pick-up service they contracted has collected more than 85,000 cubic yards of vegetative debris, not including what’s been dropped off at the two public sites.
“A guy that's been doing this for 20 years said this is the largest one-week collection of vegetative debris he has ever been involved with," Hines said.
A representative from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was also present at the meeting.
External Affairs Officer for FEMA Keith Jones said the people of Arkansas have shown great resilience during the recovery efforts.
"You have all shown great resilience by helping your neighbors through this initial recovery. We know there's work to do, and FEMA is going to be here every step of the way as you clean up from severe storms," said Jones
Jones added that as of Tuesday morning, 2,294 applicants have applied for disaster assistance through the Individual Assistance Program.
Jones reiterated that the funds provided by FEMA are grants and do not have to be repaid, but people will have to save the receipts. He said FEMA is also on the ground to help with paying for a temporary place to live, home repairs, personal property, and rental assistance for those who have been displaced and needs not covered by insurance.
Locations for FEMA locations in Northwest Arkansas can be found here.
While a lot of progress has been made in the recovery effort, officials pointed out in the meeting that there are still some challenges affecting the speed of that progress.
Officials asked residents to make sure debris is separated (vegetative, construction and demolition, electronics, and hazardous household waste) and not blocking utility meters or fire hydrants.
“We want to ask residents for their cooperation to please not put your storm debris inside the channelized storm drains that are in the city,” Mayor Hines said. “It will cause flooding downstream."
Officials are also warning people to be wary of scams when clearing debris and damage from their homes.
"We just want to encourage people to get two or three bids,” Mayor Hines said. “Ask if folks have a business license, get verification that they're bonded and insured before you enter into a contract, and never pay upfront for any of the work that's occurring in that area."
Bentonville Mayor Stephanie Orman said the best way to help solve a problem is to report it.
“We need all of that reported into a system so that we have it recorded and we know exactly what happened,” Orman said. “We talked about documentation for the storm debris and everything else, documentation of when you think you're getting scammed is important.”
Officials added that the road to recovery is still going to take some time and FEMA added that people should apply soon for assistance.
“Your life can change in an instant, but it can take weeks and months to recover,” Jones said. “And we would like to start that as soon as possible.”
For more information on how to apply online for federal assistance through FEMA, click here.
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