Debris Still Lines Roadways Five Weeks After Flood

Five weeks after the historic flooding in south Louisiana, many people still have debris piled up in their front yards. Spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Mike Steele, says crews have hit the 55% mark for completion of debris removal.

“There was an estimated 4.8 million cubic yards, or about 80,000 truckloads, of debris left after the flooding in August,” Steele said.

Steele says crews have been hard at work for the past several weeks, and it will likely be a few more weeks before all the debris has been removed. He says they are asking the public to be patient.

“A lot of times they’re on some of the main corridors for people trying to get back and forth to work. So we’re asking the public to be patient, be safe around these vehicles, and just give the crews time to help up get this done,” Steele said.

Steele says they have more crews working now, so hopefully the second half of the cleanup will go faster than the first. He says they are asking people to sort their debris into different categories to make the cleanup process easier.

“They want to make sure that people continue dividing it up into categories like household garbage, construction debris, vegetative debris, household hazardous waste, and also electronics,” Steele said.