Augusta approves $6 million for storm cleanup

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – It’s been said money does not grow on trees, but it’s going to take a lot of money to get these trees picked up. The City of Augusta has approved millions to get the job started.

All over Augusta, there are tree lined streets, except the trees are no longer standing.

“These are whole trees as you can see behind me the whole tree came down,” said Bobby Wright.

What came down is going to get picked up, the city approving $6.3 million to hire private contractors to collect the debris that residents have cleanup and put out.

“Move their respective debris to the curbside,” said City Administrator Tameka Allen.

“Do we have a schedule on when these trucks will start picking up?”

“We are hoping the trucks will start picking up as quickly as Monday,” Allen said.

Six million dollars is a lot of money, but residents know just by what the see in their neighborhood, this is going to be a big job – remembering the cleanup from the ice storm 10 years ago.

“In our yard, four times the debris than we did last time. I don’t have a feel on how much money it’s going to take to get it out of here,” said Martin Ford.

With all the devastation, the city understands the $6 million is likely just a start.

“If there seems to be more that’s going to be necessary, we may have to extend that contract to get additional funds applied to it,” said Allen.

Getting to all the debris will be costly, but the city is hoping for federal help so it’s spending another $550,000 to record all that gets picked up.

“In order to get FEMA reimbursement, you have to have it monitored,” said Allen.

The cost of cleaning up after the ice storm 10 years ago did result in a tax for Augusta. Tameka Allen said right now, that is not in her plans.

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