Columbia County roads with trees, limbs and debris that need cleanup from county crews and contractors number more than 500 locations throughout the county in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
To give this number perspective, Assistant County Manager Kevin Kirby, who oversees public works, said Hurricane Debby from last month recorded approximately 200 locations that needed tree and limb cleanup.
He also noted that “locations” on some roads were measured in miles because they were not single trees, but long stretches of debris strewn into roads and along ditches.
“The damage, the trees down, the limbs, it is unlike anything I’ve ever seen in Columbia County,” Kirby said Saturday after delivering his report to commissioners and other emergency personnel in residence at the Columbia County EOC bunker.
“We brought in the cavalry,” Kirby said. “We have knocked out a lot already, but we have 11 additional contractors on standby.”
The initial process for the cleanup is “cut and toss” which is just as it sounds — crews use chainsaws to cut the limbs and trees back off the road and toss and stack them as neatly as possible on the right of way, but off the roads where traffic can move freely and safely.
The next step will be a cleanup crew contractor to come behind and pick up the debris that is stacked roadside and take it to the county landfill to be disposed.
“We thought ‘Little Debby’ was a sport? Well, this thing, Helene, this one is more than double the size in damage. We ask people to just be patient. It’s just going to take awhile to get to everything.”
Kirby said seven days a week, from first light until dark, he will have 165 men and trucks on county roads working the cut-and-toss debris clearing measures until the roads and ditches, county right of ways were clear.
“As I said, we’ll be going from can to can’t,” Kirby said. “We’ll keep going until the job is done. We want to make sure people can get out move around, get to school, get to the hospital, doctors, get to work, do what they need to do safely. That’s our goal and our job.”
Kirby said cleanup crews are separate crews with which the county contracts.
“We have eight crews with boom trucks that pull trailers and a total of about 30 men on their crews,” he said. “They will start sometime next week going around and picking up the debris and taking it to the landfill. We’ll be out there awhile picking up debris. It’s going to take more than one trip through the county. We’ll circle like vultures till we get it all picked up.”
Personal debris cleanup
Individuals who clean up their own property without using a contractor may stack their organic storm debris at the edge of their property in the right of way and the county’s cleanup contractors will come by and pick up the debris free of charge. Kirby said if contractors leave debris, such as large logs from tree cutting, at the side of the road, the property owner will be charged the cost of hauling away the debris.
“When I see big logs rolled out to the edge of the road, I know Aunt Sally didn’t pick that up herself, so we’re rejecting that and the property owner is going to have to pay to have that hauled off,” Kirby said. “Contractors know better than that and they take advantage of the property owners, telling them the county will pick it up and FEMA will pay for it. That is simply not true.”
Kirby said residents who put their own organic debris out by the road, the county will pick it up and haul it away at no charge.
Landfill open and free to use
County residents, not contractors, may haul their organic storm debris to the county landfill and drop it off free of charge seven days per week, beginning Saturday morning for the next few weeks until the storm cleanup is deemed complete, Kirby said. This is a free service for Columbia County residents.