Augusta leaders say debris cleanup finish line is late March

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Richmond County leaders had hoped to have Hurricane Helene debris picked up by now, but they’re shooting for late March at this point.

Crews have picked up more than 2.9 million cubic yards of debris – roughly the same amount as neighboring Columbia County.

That’s enough to fill up the Empire State Building twice and fill up 100 Olympic-size pools.

They’re looking forward to warmer weather coming up so they can increase the total.

Right after Helene tore through the CSRA on Sept. 27, officials told residents to pile vegetation debris along the curb, and trucks would pick it up. The pledge was that crews would visit every street in the county two or possibly three times.

The goal was also to get all the work done in 90 days because that was the deadline for the federal government to cover the full cost of the cleanup.

We blew past that deadline, and it was extended.

And although crews won’t even make the extended deadline, they’re already planning the final pass in some parts of the county.

“Final pass is all up in the northern part of the county, basically the District 7, District 1 areas of the northern part of the county,” said Steve Cassell, an Augusta debris consultant.

But for other areas, the work is just getting started.

“You go in a neighborhood and one street has a lot of debris, and another street has nothing,” said Cassell.

“It’s not for the whole county right now and we’re not stopping the first pass in other areas,” he said. “We’re just dedicating some resources to closing some of these areas out so we can redirect those resources.”

In the beginning, they focused on the heaviest-hit areas, but the final pass is based on voting precincts.

“Basically going by what people already know so that we can kind of close each area out as we go,” said Cassell.

Cassell says this pass will involve more observation.

“It goes street by street, you know,” he said. “Then it’s inspected by an inspector and then he declares it clean, then we’re done.”

Officials plan to give plenty of notice to residents so they can be sure to get all the debris to the curb in time.

“We’ll make announcements as we close these precincts and then to which precincts were coming to next,” said Cassell.

This pass is still focusing on lighter debris like tree limbs.

“There’ll probably be some of the stumps and root balls that are another frustration, but that’s another thing that comes in afterward,” he said.

And to help make the process faster …

“Don’t put bag debris in there, or put your fence or some other construction debris. That’s a separate pickup that’s also being done as part of the second pass,” said Cassell.

The deadline is early February for 100% reimbursement by the federal government.

But the county doesn’t expect the work to be done by then.

Then the reimbursement rate will drop down to 75%.

“It’s not going to take a week,” said Cassell. “So we’re probably ending March before we’re done with the whole county.”

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