Parish begins debris cleanup effort

Stalled by Hurricane Ike, heavy-duty dump trucks finally rumbled throughout St. Tammany Wednesday, picking up mounds of debris as the parish kicked off its cleanup campaign in full force.

The effort, divided into four quadrants, will focus on the hardest hit coastal areas in southeast St. Tammany and “move toward the lesser damaged areas” in coming days, parish spokesman Tom Beale said.

“St. Tammany residents have a serious amount of debris to contend with,” Parish President Kevin Davis said. “We want to get in as quickly as possible to help return things to normal for our citizens.”

Abita Springs-based Stranco, the parish’s debris contractor, was joined by parish public work crews this week to start the process originally scheduled for Monday before Ike caused problems locally.

“It’s hard to tell (how long it will take). It really depends on areas like Carr Drive and Lakeview Drive in Slidell where they had to bring front end loaders to clear the place,” Beale said.

Once hardest hit areas are cleared, a timeline for completion will be assessed, he said.

The effort, costing parish coffers roughly $2 million, or 10 percent of its general fund, may now be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the agency took a second pass to inspect debris, parish spokeswoman Suzanne Parsons Stymiest said.

Davis said Thursday afternoon he’d received word FEMA would pay for debris pickup.

Although officials with FEMA initially declared St. Tammany a disaster area, the declaration did not provide debris cleanup costs. On Wednesday parish officials jumpstarted the project in full force — two days after performing minor pickup — still hopeful for reimbursement because “we don’t want to wait anymore,” Davis said.

Davis previously hinted that the effort’s cost to the parish’s budget may force programs to be cut or scaled back because “revenue is down,” Davis said.

Still, parish officials on Wednesday plowed forward and advised residents to place all debris on the sides of the streets, free from fire hydrants and drainage ditches.

If possible, they also asked residents to separate green debris such as tree limbs from construction debris such as Sheetrock or carpet.

Private subdivisions, 68 in all of unincorporated St. Tammany, are not included in the process. After Hurricane Katrina, the federal government made a temporary declaration allowing St. Tammany to legally enter private subdivisions and remove debris.

But without such a federal mandate for Gustav, St. Tammany must abide by existing laws, which prohibit government entities from using public funds on privately owned and maintained areas.

For a list of private subdivisions in St. Tammany refer to the parish’s Web site at www.stpgov.org.

For those who live on state highways or roads, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development is responsible for debris removal. According to the state DOTD, a contractor will begin removing debris from the state highways within five to 10 days. For more information on state pickup programs call 375-0100.

The four quadrants being cleaned include the northeast in areas north of Louisiana Highway 36 and east of Louisiana Highway 1082. The northwest quadrant includes areas of U.S. Highway 190 and west of Louisiana Highway 1082. The southeast quadrant consists of areas south of Louisiana Highway 36 and east of Louisiana Louisiana Highway 434. The southwest quadrant consists of areas south of La. 36 and U.S. 190 and west of La. 434.

“With multiple teams in each quadrant, areas which are cleaned quickly will allow those teams to move to other areas,” Beale said.