CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Hurricane Hanna brought much wind and rain to the Coastal Bend and members with the Corpus Christi Solid Waste Department are still cleaning up the aftermath.
Solid waste service crew members are offering a few tips for homeowners to help the process of debris pick up can flow smoothly.
“But now (in) the aftermath, we’re still out there cleaning up," Corpus Christi Director of Solid Waste Services David Hehfeldt said. "We want people to know that we are coming through the city."
Lehfeldt says 13 trucks have started in Calallen, and are making their way throughout the area collecting the remains Hanna left behind.
City officials recommend separating your debris items. According to staff, brush and fencing can make for great compost and metals can be recycled.
“Fencing material needs to be in a pile by itself, roofing material a pile by itself would be helpful and that just allows for us to dispose of it in the best way possible,” Lehfeldt said.
Disposing of these items in a regimented manner is not is not only beneficial for the City of Corpus Christi but also for residents because disposal can come with some cost, Lehfeldt said.
“If the citizens don’t help us out then our cost for disposal is going to be higher," Lehfeldt said. "If they help us out we can save some money and remember when we save money they citizens save money. That’s not the cities money, that’s their money that were trying to save."
Solid waste staff says crew members are moving as fast as they can and have much experience with what hurricane debris contains.
“We’re very fortunate this is a very small amount of debris for a Hurricane Harvey," Lehfeldt said. "When it came through we ended up with over 700,000 cubic yards of debris and were looking at over 20,000 - 30,000 total cubic yards total for this one.”
City officials remind that brush pickup trucks are very big. Not having cars blocking what needs to be picked up facilitates the clean-up process.
Also, make sure there are no fire hydrants near the debris and that is placed away from low-hanging power lines.
The city anticipates having debris cleaned up by the end of August.
