LITTLE ROCK U.S. Rep. John Boozman said after touring the tornado-damaged town of Atkins on Saturday that he wants to impress upon the nation's emergency director that while it might be preferable to put storm victims up in apartments, rural communities don't have that kind of housing available.
Boozman, R-Ark., whose district includes the north-central Arkansas town, said in a telephone interview that he planned to talk to R. David Paulison, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, about using government trailers at Hope. Many have sat unused since hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
"It's one thing to put people in housing in the Memphis (Tenn.) area but there's just not that kind of housing available in this rural area," Boozman said. "I will be visiting with Paulison to see if we can get some of those trailers available. The houses, the apartments, there're just not here."
The storms Tuesday roared through five states, killing 59 people, including 13 in Arkansas. President Bush declared 10 counties in the state disaster areas, making communities and residents there eligible for federal assistance.
On a tour Friday of the damage in Atkins, Paulison said he would prefer to put those displaced by the tornadoes into apartments because that is "much easier and simpler and much faster." But he also said that if that housing is not available, "we're not going to move people 100 miles away to put them in an apartment either."
Boozman said he checked Saturday with FEMA workers who were interviewing residents to see how the federal agency could help.
"So far that's going very, very well," the congressman said.
He said he was impressed, too, with how well-organized the recovery efforts were and how much progress had been made in clearing away the debris and repairing the damage only four days after the deadly storms. Saturday's sunshine and beautiful weather allowed people to do outdoor repairs in relative comfort.
"As you look out, you see damage but you also see people all over the place picking up things, trying to be helpful," Boozman said. "I think every church within 100 miles of here is helping clear the way. All of that is going very well."
Meanwhile, the National Weather Service at North Little Rock completed an aerial survey of the tornado damage and said it showed the twister took one continuous northeast route from Yell County to Sharp County.
The agency, with the help of the Civil Air Patrol, conducted the survey. A ground team found the starting point of the tornado 5.6 miles east-southeast of Centerville in Yell County, and expected to provide more detail later in the day, the weather service said.
