Teams add up storm damage for 2 counties
Posted on Friday, April 18, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/223098/
FORT SMITH — Officials in Sebastian and Crawford counties continued to calculate the damage from the strong thunderstorms that blew through western Arkansas last week.
“It’s amazing how many structures were damaged in Fort Smith,” assistant fire chief Mike Richards said Thursday.
Besides the 15 buildings owned by Fort Smith that sustained damage, 40 of the city’s 92 square miles were struck by the storm. Most of the worst damage was north of Rogers Avenue.
Early estimates indicate 6, 000 private properties and businesses sustained damage from hail, wind and rain that lashed the area April 9-10, breaking windows, damaging roofs, destroying siding and damaging vehicles.
Richards, who has been tallying the damage to Fort Smith government property, put the preliminary damage total at $ 2. 78 million. Of that, $ 1. 87 million was to 15 city buildings and more than $ 900, 000 was to vehicles.
“This is still a work in progress,” Richards said of the damage assessment.
The largest single item damaged was the Fort Smith Convention Center, which he said received $ 1. 3 million in damage to the roof, windows, lights and heating and air conditioning system.
“If you had a heating and air conditioning unit on the roof, it took a beating,” he said.
Fort Smith school officials also continued to count the damage. Deputy Superintendent Gordon Floyd said the amount of damage to school facilities will exceed $ 1 million.
“How much over that, I don’t know,” he said.
Most of the damage to the 15 buildings was from hail that broke windows and that damaged roofs and heating and air conditioning units.
“It was pretty serious damage but nothing that would force us to evacuate [buildings ] or question the structural integrity,” Floyd said.
Crawford County Emergency Management Coordinator Dennis Gilstrap said Thursday that Van Buren schools also sustained an “enormous amount of damage.”
Gilstrap toured the county on Thursday with a team composed of representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, the Small Business Administration and Arkansas Department of Emergency Management.
The team was in Crawford County to determine whether the county was eligible for federal assistance to owners of private property and businesses. The county already has been deemed eligible for assistance to damaged public property, Gilstrap said.
He said he showed the team four homes that were destroyed in Kibler, Dyer and along Lee Creek. He said the team found numerous houses throughout the county that were damaged.
Gilstrap didn’t know when the team would make its decision on the county’s eligibility for private property assistance.
Officials are expecting a team from FEMA to arrive in Fort Smith on Monday to assess the damage to government property throughout Sebastian County.
Sebastian County Judge David Hudson gathered county officials last week to help them prepare damage assessments for the inspection team. He said coordinating damage assessments would make it easier for FEMA to determine whether the county has exceeded the $ 357, 000 threshold for eligibility for federal disaster aid.
Hudson said he believed the damage in Fort Smith alone would reach that threshold.
A FEMA team was in Fort Smith on April 11 to assess damage to private property and businesses, but county officials still were waiting for the agency to determine if private property owners in the county would be eligible for federal aid.
Hudson’s report to the Sebastian County Quorum Court earlier this week included damage to the courthouse in Fort Smith, the county jail, the sheriff’s office and a large nearby storage building, the county’s building at Fourth and Parker streets, and Ben Geren Regional Park golf course.
A total of 31 county vehicles were damaged by hail, the deductible for which totals $ 15, 500.
Facility damages included glass breakage, roof damage and air conditioning units. Assessments still were being made to county roads and drainage systems.
“It does not look like it will be a problem meeting the level of damage” FEMA requires to be eligible for public property assistance, Hudson said.
Meanwhile, officials in Fort Smith and Van Buren cautioned residents about unscrupulous contractors who may try to take advantage of residents’ need to repair their damage.
Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman said beginning Monday anyone arriving in Van Buren to do repair work will be required to purchase a $ 25 privilege license. He said the contractors would be required to show proof of liability insurance and a driver’s license so officials know who is doing work in the city.
“I urge anybody who’s out there who has someone come to them to solicit or do business to see a copy of that privilege license,” Freeman said.
He said the privilege license does not guarantee the quality of the contractor’s work. Homeowners must satisfy themselves as to the contractors’ expertise, he said.
“We’ve got to raise the awareness of everyone who’s there. Be careful and ask the questions,” said Van Buren building inspector David Martin.
Contractors in Van Buren also will have to buy a $ 20 building permit, the fee to cover the cost of sending out inspectors to check on the work, Freeman said.
He said there have been three or four reports of contractors asking clients for money upfront to buy supplies or a building permit. He said one woman gave a contractor $ 500 and hasn’t seen him since.
Fort Smith officials haven’t received any reports of contractors trying to cheat consumers.
Fort Smith also requires anyone doing business in the city to purchase a business license, during which checks are made to ensure they have liability insurance and the necessary licenses and certifications for their crafts, said Wally Bailey, city director of development and construction. Scam
alert Recent storms damaged hundreds of homes in Northwest Arkansas, prompting repair scam warnings from state and local leaders. Residential general contractors are not required to be licensed or bonded in Arkansas, though some cities require business licenses, making it prudent to ensure that repair firms have a good reputation and are qualified. n Ask for recommendations from friends and relatives and get references
from the builder. n Make sure to have a contract that details the construction schedule,
cost, work to be done, list of materials, contact information for the
builder and a guarantee or warranty. n Use local contractors. Check for local licenses with city governments. n Electrical, mechanical and plumbing work must be performed by state
licensed contractors. Call the Contractor’s Licensing Board at (501 )
372-4661 to check. n Make sure the contractor has worker’s compensation and general
liability insurance. n Don’t sign a contract under pressure. n Don’t pay for the work before the project is done. n Be sure the contractor has permits and work is inspected at each stage. More information is available from the Arkansas Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division at (800 ) 482-8982. SOURCES: Arkansas Attorney General’s office and City of Fort Smith Arkansas Democrat-Gazette