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Officials at the Harris County Disaster Recovery Center say the contracted trucks have collected more than a million cubic yards of debris, which would fill up the Astrodome more than once. Spokeswoman Dimetra Hamilton says there’s still a lot of uncollected debris out there, and people who were missed on the first pass should call the Disaster Recovery Hotline.
“And if they just give us their name, address and the neighborhood that they live in, we will get contractors out there to go ahead and complete that first pass for them.”
Hamilton says where the debris must be placed is also important.
“Our debris contractors do not have right of entry, so all of the debris needs to be brought out to the curb or the right of way. And it still needs to be separated into piles.”
Hamilton says organic debris like cut up trees and tree limbs must be stacked separately from non-organic debris like shingles and fence slats.
Hamilton also says three of the six debris drop-off sites have closed because the pace of dropoffs got so low. People can get the locations of the sites that are still open, and put their home address on the list for another pass by the debris trucks by calling 1-800-207-2325. This information is also on the Harris County Homeland Security & Emergency Management Newsroom website.
Jim Bell, KUHF, Houston Public Radio News.