HOUSTON — The City of Houston kept up storm debris collection efforts during the Memorial Day holiday with the aftermath of severe storms evident across the city.
In northwest Houston, resident Bob Schamus told KHOU 11 News he was still piling up twisted tree branches and a section of a downed utility pole Monday morning. He was surprised when a collection crew came by to take it all away.
“I have two 7-foot piles right behind me and then a smaller pile too, so a lot of debris,” he said “I know it’s a massive, massive cleanup job so I’m just happy to have them come through and get rid of stuff off the street.”
The city previously activated 50 storm debris pickup contractors to help tackle the cleanup. In one neighborhood, KHOU 11 spotted a contractor’s truck as it was driving into a low-hanging fiber optic line Monday.
While nearby residents lost cable service, Lori Heuring said she was just relieved her power was still on after losing it for five days following the storm.
“It’s a part of the process of getting back to normal,” she said. “This [cable outage] is something you can live with a little bit, but not having our A/C, it’s terrible in Houston right now so that would be bad.”
In addition to waste collection trucks, all six of Houston’s neighborhood repositories were open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The sites are usually open for drop-offs from Tuesday through Sunday. To access each site, residents must provide proof of residency including a photo ID and a utility bill or lease agreement.
Neighborhood Depository/Recycling Centers Locations:
- North - 9003 N Main 77022
- Northwest - 14400 Sommermeyer 77041
- Northeast - 5565 Kirkpatrick 77028
- Southeast - 2240 Central Street 77017
- South - 5100 Sunbeam 77033
- Southwest - 10785 SW Freeway 77074