HOT SPRINGS -- County Judge Darryl Mahoney said Monday that he anticipates issuing a written disaster declaration for tornado damage in the Garland County portion of Hot Springs Village.
"We're still pretty deep into it," he said Monday morning, noting that he gave a verbal declaration Friday.
"I just now got the damage assessment" from the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management, he said.
"Thankfully it was in a somewhat rural area of the village, so there was more debris, vacant unimproved property damage than to homes," Mahoney said, noting that he and Bo Robertson, Garland County Department of Emergency Management director, "are going to go over this damage assessment ADEM did over the weekend and try to make heads or tails of it."
While most residents of Hot Springs Village now have electricity and water, the lingering effects of last week's EF2 tornado on the area will be felt for quite some time.
Hot Springs Village Public Works Director Ken Unger said the progress made over the weekend exceeded his expectations.
"Fortunately, the power companies were able to swarm us over the weekend and got pretty much everybody back on with the exception of a couple dozen people," he said Monday morning.
"I think they're hopeful to get that power restored, hopefully today. Our water infrastructure, while we still probably have various leaks in the system, it's nothing we can't handle with the plant production, so we're doing OK there."
All the streets in the community are open to at least some traffic, Unger said.
"We're still out there trying to expand the clearings so that people can have more than a single lane," he said. "It's probably going to take us a while to do that. And then we're working on assessing the overall damage and cleanup that's going be required to get us back to normal."
Mahoney said he was amazed by the amount of progress made over the weekend.
"I think power's back on to everybody that can get power right now," he said. "Water's back on to everybody that can get water. All the roadways are open. They're not perfect, but they are open, just got a lot of debris, man.
"The path was 1,000 yards wide. I mean, it's unbelievable -- about eight and a half miles in Garland County and Saline County, but its width is unbelievable in some places. Near Lake Pineda is the area that seems to be the hardest hit, but we're going to sort through this here and try to get our written declaration filed this afternoon and see if we can get any assistance from state or federal," he said.
The American Red Cross was in Hot Springs Village on Monday afternoon offering assistance to those affected by the tornado.
"We've had volunteers and staff out doing damage assessment," said John Brimley, regional communications manager for the American Red Cross of Missouri and Arkansas.
"What that looks like is out looking at homes, particularly residential property, just doing some assessments to see where damage is, to see how we can assist, and then once we've gotten a pretty good idea for the damage assessments and all of that, the next step is the recovery piece, where those who have been impacted, we'll sit down with them and kind of go over their case and figure out what recovery looks like and devise a plan for that," Brimley said.
Unger said other charitable organizations were also wanting to help.
"We have a bunch of other charitable organizations that I've talked to over the weekend -- Gideons and Christian ministries -- that, while I haven't been able to get back in touch with them, they had indicated they would have crews out here this week as well," he said. "Hopefully, our residents that were directly impacted will get some level of support there."
Unger said 58 homes sustained major damage, according to an ADEM report he had received, and most of those were in Garland County. The gated community is located in both Garland and Saline counties.
"I've got a whole list here of major damage, and the thing about it, which is one of the great things about this community is, a lot of residents here have strong relationships either with their church or with their neighbors," he said.
"And when they're impacted by something like this, generally speaking, their neighbors will step up and help them out and give them a place to stay. And I'm sure some of that's happening right now."
Robertson said about 125 homes in Garland County were affected by the tornado, based on the report.
"I'm going to guess probably about 125 homes that are affected anywhere from just ... where they have maybe some soffit or shingle damage, all the way to major with trees falling through the house, collapsed roofs, things of that nature. So it's pretty extensive," he said.
Mahoney said the way the community has come together to help has been remarkable as well.
"I will say this, the volunteers and those that have reached out and came up there and helped with everything have been unbelievable," he said.
"It shows how supportive our community is when someone has problems.
"We've had all the way from the Department of Corrections to volunteer organizations from nationwide came up there to help, and donations from a ton of people," Mahoney said.
"But it's been great to see that community effort moving forward, and thankfully, there were no really serious injuries that came out of this."
Brimley said the area was fortunate there were no significant injuries from the tornado.
"We're just lucky between this tornado and the one that hit Little Rock," he said, referencing the March 31, 2023, tornado. "There's not been much inflicted bodily harm to people that have been impacted in those areas."
A group of people in Hot Springs Village survey the damage from the March 14 tornado Monday afternoon. (The Sentinel-Record/Donald Cross)
A man works to put a tarp on a roof that was damaged by the March 14 tornado in Hot Springs Village. (The Sentinel-Record/Donald Cross)
Part of a roof and other debris lie near an uprooted tree in Hot Springs Village Monday. (The Sentinel-Record/Donald Cross)