Jefferson Parish Debris Removal Update
23 September 2008
Jefferson Parish President Aaron F. Broussard has declared a state of emergency in order to increase the amount of money paid to debris haulers and attract more trucks and crews to get the debris off the streets quicker.
He pointed out that we are still in hurricane season and there are tropical disturbances currently in the Caribbean Sea; which may develop into storms. It is important to get debris off the streets as soon as possible.
Before the hurricane season started, the Parish had pre-qualified eight (8) contractors to pick-up and dispose of storm debris. The good news is that when Hurricanes Gustav and Ike hit, the parish obtained a very low price of $9.97 per cubic yard for debris removal. The bad news is that Jefferson Parish is competing with other affected communities along the Gulf Coast that are paying double and even triple that amount. Yesterday the Parish increased the price for debris pick-up from $9.97 to $12.33 per cubic yard.
On Friday, September 19, the Parish had 45 trucks and 80 crews working throughout the Parish; the most since debris removal started on September 7, 2008.
As of yesterday, Sunday, September 21, over 70,000 cubic yards were collected. The majority of this was collected over the last four days as more crews were added. The new emergency contract price should quicken the pace even more by attracting more debris haulers. The parish contractor expects that the first sweep of the parish should be completed by this Thursday.
Debris removal contractor SRS started collecting on September 7. However, due to the threat of Hurricane Ike, they had trouble getting crews to come into the area. As SRS start-up was slow, the Parish brought in a second contractor; Ceres, on September 10. Collection activities were minimal on September 12 and 13, due to high wind gusts from Hurricane Ike.
Another factor slowing debris removal on the East Bank was the amount of time it took for the trucks to travel to the landfill on the West Bank, empty their loads and return to pick-up more on the East Bank. That was solved last week when the parish opened a temporary drop-off site near Zephyr Field in Metairie. On September 20, the parish opened a new drop-off site centrally located on the West Bank, which will expedite collection on the West Bank.
There are two (2) temporary storm debris drop-off sites where residents may bring storm debris. These are open from 10 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. They are located at 912 David Drive in Metairie and 6250 Lapalco Boulevard in Marrero.
Ceres began Right-of-Way collection of storm debris this morning in Grand Isle, Lafitte, Barataria and Crown Point.
The Parish is updating the public on the debris removal process by posting maps on www.jeffparish.net to show where the first pass for debris removal is complete. A second pass by the debris removal trucks and crews will begin after the first pass is complete.
