Pickup continues in Port Arthur, slow but steady
Published 10:15 pm Friday, September 15, 2017
By Lorenzo Salinas
It’s hard to miss the large, sometimes mountainous, piles of garbage and debris sitting in front of residents’ washed out homes Port Arthur. Those piles are just another reminder of Harvey and its historic floodwaters.
It’s easy to wish those piles up and gone so as to let the city’s streets and residents’ yards breathe easy again. And the City of Port Arthur does intend on getting everything cleaned up—but it’s not going to happen overnight.
Public information officer Risa Carpenter said the city is working hard to meet exceptionally high demands for garbage pickup; and that it has contracted out its debris cleanup to an outside company.
She did not know how many garbage trucks were lost during Harvey, but she did say that all but two residential trucks were lost in the flood.
As it currently stands, the city has contracted out garbage trucks from the cities of Groves and Nederland, as well as a company, to help with residential garbage pickups. She did not say how many trucks each entity had provided.
“They’ve made one full pass through the city as of (Wednesday),” Carpenter said. “That’s in residential garbage collection.”
Carpenter said the city anticipates a regular garbage pickup schedule “very soon” and that “it would provide some relief when the garbage pickups will occur.”
In the meantime, residents could check the city’s Facebook to keep up-to-date on when and where the garbage crews would be collecting. Each day’s entry is updated with the block and street officials would be working on.
“They will provide grids on where they will be working each day,” Carpenter said.
As for debris pickup, Carpenter said that is a contracted service and not performed by the city.
“They’ve got 15 trucks operating throughout the city,” she said of the contractor. “Initially, the pickup sites were around schools because of starting school dates…
“From those points they have been working out there. You will see those trucks working throughout the city.”
Given the scope of the debris sitting out in front of residents’ yards, Carpenter could not give an estimate of when debris cleanup would be completed; but, she did say the contractor was adding more trucks daily.
“We’re committed to cleaning up as efficiently and quickly as possible,” she said.
In regards to those large piles of debris with “DO NOT TOUCH” signs and similar signage posted on them, Carpenter made it clear that citizens should remove them in order for uninterrupted pickup to occur.
“If you are dealing with FEMA adjustors or National Flood Insurance Program, you do not need to save your debris pile,” Carpenter said. “Remove ‘Do Not Remove’ signs.”
She said one’s personal insurance may vary, but FEMA does not require the physical proof.
“FEMA wants you to take a lot of pictures (but) you have to remove the debris pile.”
As for residents who put up the signs to ward off other residents from digging through their piles, Carpenter said that only prevents the debris management service from doing their job and picking up the debris.
