County declared disaster area due to storms in April

St. Francis County has officially been declared a disaster-stricken county following storms in early April that produced hail, high winds, flooding and tornados across the Delta. According to Zakk Jumper, SFC Office of Emergency Management Coordinator, the county received notice Friday morning that it had been declared a disaster county by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “Back on April 2 of this year, we had some severe weather come through,” said Jumper. “We had the hail damage and flooding that was associated with it. Judge (Craig) Jones and myself did a disaster emergency proclamation with the state and sent it in. Ultimately, they sent it up to FEMA. A lot of people got to see me, the state official with the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management and a FEMA representative.” Jumper explained that enough damage was noted across the county for FEMA to declare it a disaster-stricken area. “We went to a lot of residences of people who called in and reported flooding and hail damage and things like that,” said Jumper. “They took all of that information and took it back and assessed it. FEMA determined that we are declared as a disaster-stricken county. It was enough damage for FEMA to approve it and take it, so it is going to be a FEMA disaster.” According to Jumper, representatives with FEMA will use disaster recovery centers to work with people who experienced damage during the storms to either get things repaired or find monetary reimbursements for work that has already been completed. “Now, we are going to have FEMA coming in and setting up Disaster Recovery Center sites,” said Jumper. “If you experienced damage during that time, you will come in and submit an application with them. They will go from there and work with you to either get things fixed or try to get some funding to reimburse what work has been done. That is coming.” Jumper said that while FEMA officials have said they will be coming to the county, residents must remain patient because it could still take some time. “We don’t have the dates yet for when they are coming,” said Jumper. “They are coming to set up the sites and once they do that, they will begin working. We were just approved on Friday morning. It is not going to happen quickly. I am projecting that it may be a couple of weeks before they come and get set up. We just have to be patient.” According to Jumper, it seemed unlikely that SFC would be declared a FEMA disaster area after Cave City was hit by a tornado and denied by FEMA aid. “The state was kind of thinking that we may not get approved,” said Jumper. “Initially, the tornado at Cave City that did so much damage was actually denied by FEMA the first time around and the state had to resubmit that application. Their damage was definitely way worse than ours. That was basically a whole town just wiped away and they were denied.” In addition to SFC, financial assistance is also available to eligible homeowners and renters in Clark, Clay, Craighead, Crittenden, Desha, Fulton, Hot Springs, Jackson, Miller, Ouachita, Pulaski, Randolph, Saline, Sharp and White counties. Jumper explained that the county had been approved for both individual assistance and public assistance through the declaration. “We were thinking we would be denied but we were approved,” said Jumper. “We actually got approved for public assistance and individual assistance. The public assistance means things like county roads, county property or 501(c)3 or nonprofit-type stuff. With individual assistance, that is things like homeowners and people like that. They approved us for both of us so that is great.” According to Jumper, this will be his first FEMA event as OEM Coordinator so this will be a learning experience for him as well. “I know some people had already gone ahead and started making repairs on their own,” said Jumper. “I told the ones I talked to to make sure and keep up with what they did and when they did it. I also told them to keep up with dollar amounts. This is honestly my first FEMA event so this is definitely a learning experience for me. The big thing is that help is on the way. I am shocked but glad and they are on the way.”

County declared disaster area due to storms in April

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