‘One thing at a time’: North Augusta heads into next phase of debris cleanup

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) -Debris crews are doing slow but steady work clearing the mess from Hurricane Helene.

We’re more than halfway through the 90-day period where FEMA will fully reimburse cities for disaster cleanup.

On Tuesday, North Augusta Mayor Briton Williams held a meeting at Victory Baptist Church to discuss debris recovery.

City leaders were letting people know what to expect as the city goes into its next phase of cleanup.

Crews have collected more than 400,000 cubic yards of debris in the county as a whole and other counties are well on pace to get everything done.

Day 54 of crews working through the thick of it to get things cleaned up in Richmond County.

Alice Brook says it’s been a month and a half full of headaches and surprises, trying to navigate through debris and working through a new normal.

“Well, I don’t think the neighborhood will ever be the same except for a potted plant right there,” said Brook. ” I have nothing green left in my yard, no bushes, no trees, nothing.”

Brook says seeing the crews doing their work is the silver lining behind all of this.

“One thing at a time,” she said. “That’s the only way I can take it. We have had a lot of our piles picked up, but we had a lot more trees to come down and have to be cleaned up than I would have ever guessed.”

Contractors say they’re a little more than halfway done in Richmond County with 1.4 million cubic yards of debris collected.

Columbia County isn’t far behind with a little more than 1 million cubic yards collected as well.

Aiken County has 400,000 cubic yards collected.

Meanwhile, Brook says her community continues to have hope in getting everything back in shape for the sake of some normalcy.

“It feels like we’re living in a war zone,” said Brook.

Every county we spoke to says they’re working the best they can to meet FEMA’s 90-day period to get everything cleaned up, but they say at this point it’s looking more like a miracle.

Richmond, Aiken and Columbia counties say the next phase will involve a second pass-through of neighborhoods, but they say the biggest challenges are still the weather, shorter days and utility lines still being too low for heavy machinery to operate.

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