Final day to register for storm aid nears
Posted on Saturday, July 19, 2008
Monday is a noteworthy day for Arkansans: It’s the last day for Natural State disaster victims to register for aid.
Charles S. Powell, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Little Rock, said that Monday is the close of registration for victims of May storms, including a May 2 tornado that tore through northcentral Arkansas and a May 10 tornado that ripped through Stuttgart in Arkansas County.
Registration is already closed for storm, tornado and flood victims from earlier in the year.
So far, 2008 has been a devastating year for the Natural State.
Twenty-eight people died in a series of tornadoes and floods that stretched from February to May.
In all, the government issued three federal disaster declarations: one to cover a tornado that struck Feb. 5 and continuing storms that stretched on through Feb. 12; another that covered flooding and storm damage between March 18 and April 28; and a third to cover storms between May 2 and May 12.
So far, the government has approved $ 35. 6 million in grants and loans to help 16, 158 families statewide from 2008.
For the May storms, disaster victims can register for aid at www. fema. gov or at (800 ) 621-3362.
Registration closes at 6 p.m. Monday.
Arkansans who live in Arkansas, Benton, Cleburne, Conway, Crittenden, Grant, Lonoke, Mississippi, Phillips, Pulaski, Saline and Van Buren counties are still eligible for aid.
FEMA provides grants for rebuilding homes and replacing property. Those who register also have access to low-interest loans through the Small Business Administration.
Powell said some May disaster victims still haven’t asked FEMA for help.
He said six people from Phillips County mistakenly called FEMA’s public affairs office to register for help last week alone.
As time has passed, FEMA has scaled back its presence in Arkansas.
FEMA personnel in the state have dropped to 89 from about 340 earlier in the year. On Monday, FEMA will close its public affairs office in the state.
In Stuttgart, rebuilding is continuing, said Mayor Marianne Maynard.
In all, the tornado destroyed between 20 and 30 homes and damaged 30 businesses.
Two months later, the town is still a work in progress.
Most of the downed trees were chopped up and hauled away, but the root balls still must be dug up.
Some property owners are already rebuilding, but others are still negotiating their insurance settlements.
Some businesses have reopened, but others have not.
“But you’d be amazed if you saw it two months ago,” Maynard said. “We are going to make lemonade out of this lemon.” In Van Buren County, where a May 2 tornado killed two grandparents and their 4-yearold granddaughter, there are signs of the storm everywhere, said Bee Branch resident Becky Bradford.
Bradford manages Caldwell Feed, a store in Bee Branch that reopened in a new location after the tornado demolished the old store and mill.
That wreckage still sits along U. S. 65 while the owner negotiates the insurance settlement.
East of the collapsed mill, in a field where numerous homes were destroyed, sunflowers have bloomed along the tornado’s path.
Bradford said the twister took the sunflower seeds when it obliterated the feed store and scattered them in its wake.
“My hope certainly doesn’t come from a sunflower, but it’s a lovely thing,” Bradford said. “The wreckage is still there, but our lives are going on.”
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