A group of mostly west Augusta homeowners voiced frustration Tuesday about the debris removal process at a town hall meeting called by Mayor Garnett Johnson.
Ten weeks since Hurricane Helene hit Augusta, debris hauler Ceres and subcontractors have removed 4.9 million cubic yards of fallen trees and limbs from Augusta rights-of-way, said Steve Cassell, the former city employee now working as a consultant on the debris effort.
The crowd, many from the hard-hit Montclair and surrounding neighborhoods, had one main thing on its mind.
“We want to know when you’re going to pick up stuff off our streets,” exclaimed one man, anxious to get to the question-and-answer period of the town hall.
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“We’re going to get to your questions, I promise you,” Johnson told the crowd.
As Cassell and city officials have said, the haulers are focusing on the hardest-hit areas first, and keep hauling due to the sheer volume of Augusta’s debris, Cassell said.
About a third of the debris removal is coming from District 7, where the town hall was held. About a quarter has come from District 3, he said.
“If you have Wheeler Road, Walton Way, Skinner Mill Road within a mile of your house, you got hit hard,” he said.
Resident questions covered everything from insurance to creeks to utility lines still on the ground, but focused most on when the help they need is coming.
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To many residents’ questions, the city’s response Tuesday was to take down their addresses. In addition, Augusta 311 is the best way to report individual situations, Johnson said.
“Why is it when they come for debris removal they decide to only pick up half of it or three-quarters of it and you never see them again,” another resident said.
“We have not seen the first truck, the first person,” said another.
Another said her yard is so small her debris exceeds the city’s right of way. That’s the area where residents are expected to place their debris. “Not everyone’s yard is huge,” she said.
“We will get your address,” Johnson said.
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Another resident, from Aumond Road, said the utility lines are so low on homes’ rights-of-way there the debris removal trucks can’t fit under them.
Another said he was pleased with debris removal that’s gone on in the Vineland neighborhood, but wondered if haulers will remove a freshly cut tree that was leaning over his house.
