Sebastian County, cities fail to qualify for aid after flood

FORT SMITH — The damage Sebastian County and some of its cities had from flash flooding last week wasn’t enough to qualify for state money.

County officials met Thursday with Brad Thomas, northwest area coordinator for the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management, to discuss the flood damage, according to Travis Cooper, deputy director of Sebastian County Emergency Management.

The flooding impacted Greenwood, Bonanza and Hackett, as well as Sebastian County proper, according to Cooper. The total estimated damage to the infrastructure of these entities, such as roads, bridges, culverts and facilities, was reported at more than $372,000 — short of the about $523,000 threshold the county must meet to qualify for relief money from the Division of Emergency Management.

Cooper said the county doesn’t foresee meeting the threshold by the deadline, which is today. This would have allowed the county to receive state money for up to 35% of the damages assessed.

The National Weather Service in Tulsa stated in a flood warning June 10 between 3 and 5 inches of rain fell that morning in parts of west-central Arkansas and Oklahoma.

Cooper noted while severe flash flooding took place throughout the entire county June 10, the only damages reported were in Greenwood, Bonanza, Hackett and the county.

Forty-five private homes, one mobile home and eight multifamily homes across the four areas had major damage during the flood as well. Cooper defined major damage as being caused by 18 or more inches of water. Another 34 private homes and four multifamily homes had minor damage.

“Looking at individual homes that were impacted and families possibly displaced, the city of Greenwood was heavily impacted more than anywhere else in the county,” Cooper said. “Sebastian County has the higher number of bridges and roads impacted, but also just looking at the city of Hackett, it appears that they had a lot of damage to their city park and walking trail, in that area.”

Greenwood also had equipment losses and had to do some cleanup work at some of its facilities.

Cooper said Friday the creeks in the area of Greenwood Lake were already overwhelmed from the rain from earlier in the week, leading to significant flooding in Greenwood. Multiple agencies were called to assist in evacuations and water rescues in the county. The county declared a disaster as a result of the flooding, though no injuries or deaths were reported.

Cooper said capturing the areas impacted by the flooding is a step in the right direction for the cities and county. This will give these entities an idea of what to do next, a process of prioritizing which projects to complete to address the damage and securing the funding to do so.

Agencies such as the American Red Cross and Salvation Army are working to provide relief and recovery in the wake of the flooding, according to Cooper.

The Fort Smith-based River Valley Regional Food Bank announced Tuesday it would donate about 85-packed boxes of shelf-stable food items, along with a pallet of gallon jugs of water, to Greenwood United Methodist Church. The church, a pantry partner for the food bank, would then coordinate with Greenwood to distribute the product to families impacted by the flooding.

John Embrey, senior pastor, said the church learned from the city earlier this week about where flooding took place in Greenwood. The church, which normally facilitates a food distribution on a monthly basis, will take the food to the affected neighborhoods on Saturday. This includes the area of the Indian Hills neighborhood.