HOUSTON — Harris County leaders are trying to bolster efforts to clean up debris following Hurricane Beryl. The issue came up during Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday.
Officials briefed the commissioners, telling them that more than one million cubic yards of debris remain yet to be picked up from both the May derecho storm and Hurricane Beryl. Precinct 3 has the most remaining with more than 450,000 cubic yards of debris.
Pct. 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said debris cleanup is one of the most urgent issues facing the county and his jurisdiction especially, which was hard hit during Beryl. He described how widespread the issue is for neighborhoods that have yet to have a first pass of pickup.
“We got roughly 112 debris zones,” he said. “Let me tell you another way to call that -- 112 neighborhoods that we're still trying to get assets and resources and trucks in to remove the debris from these areas.”
Ramsey placed the issue for discussion during Tuesday’s commissioners court. His hope is to allocate more county resources to speed up debris pick up.
One of Ramsey’s concerns is the potential that disaster relief companies helping in the county may be directed to places like Florida or the Carolinas addressing Tropical Storm Debby.
Ramsey says his precinct has had to get creative in getting resources to clear debris quickly, especially with back-to-school season set to ramp up.
“We brought on veterans to help us clean up the debris and to see veterans out there on a mission to help their neighborhood clean up debris during this time is very important,” he said. “School is starting just in a matter of a couple of weeks. We've got to be sure that those routes, safe routes, that those are taken care of and those issues are addressed.”
On Tuesday, commissioners voted to modify reimbursement rules in order to help with the allocation of resources for the different precincts. But Ramsey’s office continued to express concern because Precinct 3 is bearing the brunt of cleanup costs in the county, even with reimbursement.
The court will revisit the topic during its next meeting later this month.
Ramsey says he hopes the neighborhoods who have not had their first pass of debris pick up to have that be completed in the next two to three weeks, but adds the county will be communicating with neighborhoods on when people can expect debris to be picked up.