Crews continue cleanup of debris left from storms in Richardson
RICHARDSON — North Texas continues cleanup after powerful storms tore through the area last week. Many people are still without power, and homes remain damaged from debris.
In Richardson, "day one" is underway of a massive debris cleanup effort, after 80+ mile per hour winds tore through trees and homes.
"I had tree limbs. I have three holes in my roof," says Richardson resident, Carol Feldman.
Feldman says her lawn was "littered" with branches and trees. She said she was overjoyed to see the pile finally picked up on Monday.
"This is fantastic that they're here so quickly," Feldman tells CBS News Texas. "It's been a long week for Richardson."
City of Richardson spokesperson Greg Sowell says they hired a company that specializes in large-scale disasters like hurricanes and tornados. The company goes around to each street and neighborhood removing the collected piles of tree debris. The trees are processed in a grinding machine that turns the branches into mulch and recycled material.
"In fact, the company that we have coming in helps us with our tornado event back in 2019. So, they will be going down every single street, neighborhood, street that we have in the city and picking up those large piles of tree trees- anything that's related to the storm," Sowell explains.
Sowell says the city expects to have 50,000 cubic yards of debris to come through its drop-off site, which is enough to fill up an entire football field sixteen times.
In Dallas, residents at the Meadows at Ferguson Apartments are still without power after the storms took out an entire wall.
"You see that crack right there, that's my bedroom wall," resident Brittany Williams explains, "It smells like mildew. There is no AC, there is no light, no electricity- when you open it up, it just smells nasty."
When it comes to collecting debris from the storm, Richardson residents are asked to keep trash and bags out of debris piles, avoid parking cars near debris piles and keep debris piles away from mailboxes, driveways and fire hydrants.
"That's going to take time. So, we really do need and ask for patience," Sowell adds.
Residents can expect the work to continue for up to six weeks so crews can survey neighborhoods multiple times.