The Edgewood subdivision received a helping hand from several volunteer groups and the Benton County Road Department in removing downed trees from the tornadoes that hit Siloam Springs on Oct. 21.
The area faced challenges in getting help with storm cleanup because they are outside of city limits and the sheer volume of material left by the storm slowed the county's response. However nonprofits, such as Christian Aid Ministries and Kind at Heart Ministry, have helped fill in the gaps.
The Edgewood subdivision did not suffer property damage, but it did have a lot of trees that were struck down by the tornadoes, according to resident Allison Bellomy.
"We couldn't even get to our houses," Bellomy said. "The three of us (Bellomy, Deborah Wann and Paul McVay) were completely blocked in (from our houses). There were like five or six trees between here and the end of the street."
The residents worked together to maneuver the downed trees in order to make the road passable, she said. Bellomy said the organization she works for, Kind at Heart Ministries, along with a group of international students from Watts, Okla., helped to move limbs out of McVay's drive way, as well as that of other residents on the previous Saturday.
On Nov. 13, Christian Aid Ministries, an international organization that provides aid both inside and outside the U.S., came to help the local neighborhood, Bellamy said. The group cut up a large amount of downed trees and placed them on the curbs.
A Federal Emergency Management Agency representative helped connect the Edgewood residents with the organization, Bellomy said.
"I chased a FEMA guy down the street," Bellomy said. "I told him 'we need help cleaning this up' and he's like 'I'm working on it. We'll see what we can do.'"
When the FEMA representative found out that Edgewood was outside the city limits, he gave Bellomy a card for Christian Aid Ministries. She said she called the number and Matt Miller, a member of Rapid Response Team from Huntsville, came to assess the damage. The team represents Christian Aid Ministries in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Rapid Response Team came out and began clearing the roadways of trees and debris from the streets, according to Bellomy. During the time Miller's team was clearing away the debris, volunteers from Kind at Heart came back to clear more trees, Bellomy said. The two groups ended up working together to clear the debris from the roadways and placing them on curbs, She added.
Bellomy also said that Rapid Response Team plans to come back on Nov. 23 to continue to help with cleanup efforts.
The Edgewood subdivision received another helping hand on Nov. 14, when county officials showed up with nine trucks to remove debris from the neighborhood according to Wann. The trucks began on the southern end of Edgewood Circle and began working their way through the neighborhood, Wann said. Despite the amount of trucks on site, the project was still going to take time to complete, she said.
"It's going to take a little while. They've been out here close to three hours and you can see that it's going to take awhile," Wann said.
Because of the sheer volume of material left by the storm damage, cleanup has been a time-consuming challenge for Benton County, according to Judge Barry Moehring. The county road department focused first on clearing high traffic roads and right-of-ways to make sure they are passable for the public, school buses and first responders, he said.
As of Nov. 14, Moehring said the department has removed nearly 1,000 loads of organic debris.
"We're now able to work on areas like Edgewood Circle and some of our more densely populated areas around Beaver Lake," he said. "We recognize that some folks would like us to move faster, but we're working on this disaster with as much speed as we're able to. And we appreciate the input from places like Edgewood Circle and we'll get those cleared as quickly as we can. In the meantime, we appreciate everyone's patience."
General News on 11/20/2019