Tampa city leaders say debris pickup working 24/7 as trash still lines the streets

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tampa City Leaders are reassuring residents that they won’t be forgotten, as piles of storm debris still line the streets in many neighborhoods.

“Two hurricanes in like less than two weeks that means lots of debris cleanup, especially my yard,” said Vanessa Tsarevich, who was cleaning up debris in front of her home Wednesday. “I have two large oak trees in the yard.”

“It looks like it’s in shambles. It’s just like somebody blew up a bunch of wood and left it,” said Linda Harris, who worries the debris are more than just an eyesore and is hopeful it would be gone soon.

“I hope so because of safety hazards and everything. and health hazards,” Harris added.

During a news conference Wednesday, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor stressed that no neighborhood will be left behind.

“We have the city divided up and equal amounts of contractors in every neighborhood,” Castor said.

The mayor said crews are working around the clock to meet FEMA’s 90-day reimbursement deadline.

“It’s always going to be down to the wire that’s how this is across the board, across the country, but we are determined to get everything up by it’s 90 days,” Tampa City Solid Waste Director Larry Washington said.

Washington said the city of Tampa suspended recycling services last week to ramp up debris collection efforts, but said recycling service has since resumed.

“We had to focus on household debris from Helene first,” Castor said.

Now Castor said crews are turning their focus to vegetative debris.

“We use police grids for each sector of the city and then with that we check it off on our debris collection map on the City of Tampa Solid Waste page,” Washington said.

In the meantime, city leaders are asking residents to remain patient.

“We’re collecting the entire city, not just pockets, not just the hardest hit areas, and a collection process like this magnitude simply takes time,” Washington said.

To make the process quicker, residents are being asked to separate debris into three piles: vegetative debris, household items and appliances.

Debris piles should have 3-feet clearance on all sides and be placed away from power lines and trees.

“It slows us down, and we cannot use our big truck with the arm claw,” Washington said. “We’ll have to hand collect those piles which takes a great deal of time.”

The city of Tampa also has three debris drop-off sites that are free of charge for residents, 22nd Street Park, Gadsen Park and the McKay Bay Transfer Station.

To track the latest debris collection map, click here .

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