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Clean up after the May 9 storm that downed trees and power lines throughout the city is still underway and likely to continue for the next few weeks.
Straight line winds reached 60 miles per hour during the storm, according to the National Weather Service. Most of the damage was centered around the Mississippi University for Women campus as well as on Northside and in East Columbus.
Columbus Light and Water reported at least 8,000 customers were without power after the storm, and Columbus Fire and Rescue responded to nine storm-related fires.
Mayor Keith Gaskin said the majority of trees and debris that the city is responsible for has been cut and removed, thanks to the help of the Public Works Department and Lowndes County clean up crews. But there’s still more to do.
Several weeks to go
Gaskin said storm clean up will likely continue over the coming weeks, including picking up debris that has already been moved to the street.
While most of the trees in the city have been cleared, he said there are still some near Lee Park and one on Third Avenue North that need to be removed.
“We still have several weeks to go because there will still be people putting debris on the street that we’ll be responsible for getting up,” he said.
There’s been a delay dealing with trees that have fallen on homes, Gaskin said. Trees that fell on private property are required to be removed by the homeowners unless there is a public safety concern.
Gaskin said it’s unlikely that the city will receive disaster relief. The local threshold to qualify for FEMA relief is $270,843 in damage.
“As far as emergency management goes, it doesn’t look like … we’re going to meet the threshold of financial damage to be able to get that,” he said.
Volunteers needed
As the clean up continues, Gaskin said the city is trying to connect homeowners with volunteers to help with tree and debris removal on private property.
“There are still some citizens who have large trees in their yards and near their houses that could use some assistance,” he said. “… The city can’t do it, but we can try to coordinate finding volunteers for those that need help.”
He emphasized that volunteers need to be qualified or have experience with tree removal to ensure the work is done safely.
“We encourage people to (volunteer),” he said. “If they have the resources and the experience and they want to try to help folks who are struggling to be able to get all the debris cleared from their property, then we would love to hear from them.”
Qualified volunteers can contact the mayor’s office, where they are keeping a list of people who could use the help.
“We’re trying to make sure that we’ve got a list of people who call that could use assistance, and we’re trying to coordinate that,” Gaskin said.
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 26 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
