Tulsa Debris Removal Nearing Completion

By Craig Day, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- The city of Tulsa has only about 10% of the debris from early summer storms left to cleanup. Having an end in sight is good news for many homeowners who have put up with ugly piles in their neighborhoods and for crews who have put in lots of overtime to get the cleanup job done.

Seeing city crews with their big trucks and heavy equipment coming down their street is a welcome sight for many Tulsans. They've lived with piles of debris cluttering their neighborhood for quite some time.

"Probably like two months, three months, I don't know. It's a long time," said Angalica Rodriguez, Tulsa resident.

"I'm just glad they're picking it up. It's been there forever, just a mess," said Matt Wiley, Tulsa resident.

City employees have made significant progress on that mess. Eleven crews working across the city have finished 172 one-square-mile zones, with just 17 left to go.

"We went to some of these places and they had piles higher than the house and it's been rough," said Brian Swatsenbarg, city employee.

City employees have worked six ten-hour days each week to finish the debris removal. The work should be finished in four weeks.

"When we started off, we thought maybe a month or something like that, but as we started getting out there and realizing how long it takes to get to the dump, and stuff like that, it turned out to be quite a project," said Swatsenbarg.

While the debris cleanup has been a time consuming project, the process has also been expensive. A final overall cost hasn't been estimated yet, but whatever it turns out to be, the city of Tulsa will likely have to absorb all of that cost, because the wind storm didn't qualify the area for a disaster declaration. Which could have meant partial reimbursement from state and federal funds.

Regardless of the expense, both residents and city crews are glad an end to the work is in sight. They hope the city isn't faced with a cleanup job like this anytime soon.

Crews are working in seven zones in the Northwest section of the city right now, with two more to get to. Debris removal is underway in three East Tulsa zones right now with four more to go. Crews are in two zones in South Tulsa, with three more to go.