COVINGTON, La. — It’s been three months since Hurricane Ida and debris is still lining some streets in St. Tammany Parish. Parish officials believe the overwhelming majority of debris will be gone by Christmas.
A Greenleaves resident who goes by ‘C.W.’ has waited three months to see trucks picking up debris come down his street. This week, it was a welcomed surprise.
“At least I can see if a car is coming when I come out the driveway,” he said about having his yard cleared at last. “It’s about time you know to get back to normality.”
His neighbor, Chris O’Brien was just as excited to see the workers begin clearing on her street.
“We were like children yelling, ‘The ice cream man is here! The trucks are here! The trucks are here!’” she laughed.
O'Brien said she and her neighbors walked out when they saw the workers thank them.
“This what we’re dealing with,” she said about the piles of debris. “Of course the grass is dead underneath the debris piles.”
In St. Tammany Parish, Hurricane Ida snapped countless trees and limbs leaving a mess to clean up.
“Getting around the debris has been impossible, especially on Halloween it was difficult for the kids,” O’Brien said.
“That’s one of the main concerns when hurricanes come through St. Tammany Parish is the tree canopy,” St. Tammany Parish Public Information Director Michael Vinsanau said.
According to Vinsanau, the parish has picked up a little more than 2 million cubic yards of debris so far.
“That’s a lot of debris. You go to the debris sites we have, there’s just so much,” he said.
Vinsanau estimates about 85 or 90 percent of the parish has been cleared.
“We’re going to get it picked up, it’s just going to take a little more time,” he said.
About 60 trucks are out picking up seven days a week, according to the parish.
“Sun up to sun down,” Vinsanau said.
St. Tammany Parish is offering daily updates on a map to show which areas have been picked up and what’s left. You can find the map and daily debris count at stpgov.org/ida.
Vinsanau explains it is not a quick process.
“The two trucks combined can pick up 10 to 12 homes, well they have to drive to the dumpsite, drive back, so it’s time-consuming, but we think we're on a good pace to have it done hopefully by Christmas,” he said.
By Christmas, the parish expects the parish to be back to normal, with hopefully the vast majority of debris gone.