Cleanup along the Guadalupe River in Kendall County is coming to a close as the firms hired to remove the tons of vegetation and debris are ready to move along to other affected counties and sections of the river.
Cleanup efforts began July 30, nearly four weeks after torrential rain sent the Guadalupe River raging out of its banks on July 4, wiping out everything in its path and killing 138 people.
Thousands of volunteers spent weeks combing the river’s edge, sifting through twisted and tangled vegetation in search-and-rescue, then recovery, efforts.
The county’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) in late July contracted with DRC Recovery Services to handle the cleanup and disposal of the tons of debris gathered. Its crews have worked 12 hour-days seven days a week removing what seems to be astronomical amounts of “junk.”
Brady Constantine, Kendall County fire marshal and OEM director, Friday said removal operations trucked out 6,926 loads of vegetation, trash and debris, amounting to over 252,000 cubic yards of trash, 249,473 cubic yards being marine-based vegetation.
A second firm, Tetra Tech, was hired to deal specifically with the right-of-entry removal, encroaching on peoples’ private property — with their permission — along the Guadalupe. The Private Property Debris Removal Program allowed eligible property owners to receive no-cost assistance to remove flood-generated debris from their property.
“Tetra Tech received and processed 164 Right- Of- Entry applications,” Constantine said.
Initial estimates of an eight-to-10-week cleanup are spot on, involving four weeks in August, five in September and one thus far in October.
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