PLANO, Texas — Plano resident Kasey Weadon has been keeping a positive mind despite having to see a long pile of debris outside his home.
“Our trees got destroyed,” said Weadon. “One of them hit our roof and pretty much shook the entire house. That brought down the gutters in the back and put a hole in our roof and a hole in the fence.”
Weadon, like many others in the city, has been waiting on debris cleanup from the storms in May.
“I don’t know when that’s going to occur. I think we’ve had the debris on the side for about a week,” said Weadon.
Luckily, help is on the way.
“We’re probably about a third of the way through the city right now. This is about 30% of what needs to be picked up,” said Steve Funk, Plano Environmental Waste Services Superintendent.
He said the city acquired a temporary space to use as an extra dumpsite.
“We realized early on that it was bigger than us. We went out and hired a private contractor to help us,” said Funk.
City crews shifted to working six days a week on alleys while the private contractor works seven days a week to clear streets. Funk said from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning, the private contractor dumped about 5,000 cubic yards of debris into the temporary dumpsite. The City of Plano has dumped about three times that amount over the past few weeks.
“We’re sitting at 15,000 to 20,000 cubic yards right here. You can see it. The pile goes way back there. It’s a lot of debris,” said Funk. “Until people see it, they don’t understand the magnitude of it.”
Residents such as Weadon remain in good spirits.
“We’ve just kind of been crossing our fingers that it’s going to come around. It’s not a huge burden. It’s obviously not the best curb appeal, but it’s there,” said Weadon. “That pile for a while is OK as long as we’re safe.”
