By Lorenzo Salinas

l.v.salinas@panews.com

 

Port Arthur mayor Derrick Freeman hosted a press conference alongside city officials Thursday at City Hall to discuss recovery efforts currently being undertaken by the city in the wake of Harvey.

Freeman commended city workers for bringing garbage pickups back on a regular schedule, calling it “an extremely great job” while noting that city workers across the board have been working a lot of overtime to get things back in order.

The contractor the city has working debris cleanup currently has 25 trucks up and operating through Port Arthur, according to Freeman. He said that number is growing daily, with some locals even hired by the contractor for additional help.

Freeman said the contractor is performing three, staggered passes through each neighborhood in order to ensure as much debris is cleaned up as possible. Additionally, the multiple passes would give residents the opportunity to unload more debris once the first and second passes have gone through.

Freeman said debris cleanup would be completed throughout the city. Another city official estimated the timeline to be from a few months to several months. The current contract with workers is for 18 months.

“Please be patient with us,” Freeman said.

An estimated 57,000 cubic yards of debris have been picked up so far, according to Freeman, out of the estimated 1.2 million cubic yards in total.

Freeman asked of residents to start sorting through their debris and separating certain items in order to make it easier for workers. Examples would be separating electronics from furniture, appliances from paneling and so on.

“We didn’t think it was a good time to educate citizens then,” Freeman said of residents when they had first returned home after the storm.

Debris is currently being sorted by workers at three debris management sites in the city with a fourth one being established in the east side of town.

Freeman said all sites have met approval standards of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. He iterated that the sites were not permanent and no burning was taking place at them.

He emphasized the importance of sorting, as such a precautionary measure would help ensure that all items would go to their rightful places.

He said the city was also looking into other options for disposal such as grinding certain items down in order to reduce their size at the landfill.

Freeman stressed that the city has had an emergency plan in place for years to be “well-prepared for a time like this.” He noted how the city had adopted federal and state-level regulations in debris pickup and emergency planning.

Freeman said the City of Port Arthur is working with the Texas Division of Emergency Management to get residents who are still displaced in other cities like Dallas back to their homes in the city.

For residents who are currently staying in water-damaged or moldy homes, Freeman urged them to leave.

“It’s a health hazard to live in a moldy home,” he said, pointing to the city’s soft-shell community set up in front of the Bob Bowers Civic Center as a housing alternative.

Freeman complemented the AC units in the tents, saying that some residents feel it was too cold.

Another city official said the soft-shell community could currently hold 500 people, but that number could be increased. There are an estimated 330 people currently residing in the tents.

For additional assistance, Freeman said residents could seek federal aid through DisasterAssistance.gov and to seek local aid through the City of Port Arthur’s hotline: 409-983-8705.