Agencies band together to help Fort Smith residents after EF-1 tornado

May 20-- May 20--Work is being done throughout Sebastian County to help residents recover from severe weather that hit the area Saturday afternoon.

Travis Cooper, deputy director of the Sebastian County Office of Emergency Management, said Sunday multiple agencies were assisting residents who had been affected by the severe weather that took place Saturday.

A reported tornado hit Fort Smith and damaged several areas around the city during a line of storms that swept through western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon. National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Teague confirmed Sunday an EF-1 tornado hit Fort Smith.

During the storm, Cooper said the office of emergency management had damage reports come in on about 40 homes in the county. The organizations helping residents on Sunday included the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Lions Club and the Fort Smith Fire Department, as well as others.

"Looking at the Red Cross volunteers, we have ... about a half a dozen currently that's going to be coming to you asking for what your needs are," Cooper said. "We have crews from Christian Aid Ministries also here, the Mennonite Disaster Relief that's going to be assisting in debris removal, cutting up trees, getting off the homes, also tarping, so if you have those type of necessities, of lodging, sheltering, food and tarping and tree removal, that's what we're going to try to focus on today, so, hopefully, we can get that accomplished."

Residents in need of assistance can call the office of emergency management at (479) 783-3932.

Cooper said Sebastian County is currently not meeting the threshold to receive state or federal disaster declaration funding.

"It's typically based on uninsured homeowners, and a lot of the homeowners that we have here ... I'd say about 50 percent appear to have insurance, and so we may not meet that threshold at all here in this disaster," Cooper said.

Cooper said the impact of Saturday's storm was countywide. The office of emergency management is focusing around the area of Ramsey Junior High School in Fort Smith from Phoenix Avenue to Old Greenwood Road back to Towson Avenue and Fresno Street. Damage was also reported Barling, Lavaca and Greenwood, as well as in Hartford, Hackett and Huntington.

"Looking at our safety and precautions that we need to take into consideration, power lines are still down, power poles are still disconnected, hanging, trees are still uprooted, just leaning on rooftops, leaning on other trees," Cooper said. "It is an unsafe environment, so I encourage you to make sure that if you are out and about, be cautious of other drivers, pedestrians, but also those hazards that are known. ..."

OG&E reported on the System Watch on its website that 866 customers in Fort Smith were without power at 8 p.m. Sunday. Sebastian County Emergency Management Director Kendall Beam said there have been no injuries or deaths as a result of Saturday's severe weather.

Fort Smith Communication Director Karen Santos in a Sunday news release stated Cooper reported disaster assistance crews encountered residents who were reluctant to let clean-up crews get to work that day in fear their home insurance adjuster needed to inspect the damage in person first. After checking with a couple of local insurance adjusters, Cooper requested the following information be shared with Fort Smith residents suffering property damage from Saturday's storm:

--Residents should take photos and videos of damage to their home and property.

--Document emergency work done to remove unsafe hazards, like trees, limbs and debris, and to seal their home with tarps as protection from the elements.

--Take lots of good, representative "before" and "after" pictures to make them available to your home insurance carrier.

The office of emergency management is coordinating volunteer crews with heavy equipment and tools to remove large trees and other things from residents' homes, Santos said. The crews or others coordinating with them are handing out tarps to help seal roofs in preparation for rainy weather, which is expected to move in as early as this afternoon or evening. Residents needing direct assistance from the regional Red Cross are asked to call (855) 891-7325.

A Sunday post on the Fort Smith Public Schools Facebook page states the district will be closed today due to safety and operational issues that need to be addressed.

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