Wagoner County Helps Tornado Victims Dispose Of Debris

Wagoner County officials in Broken Arrow are removing mounds of debris, caused by a tornado weeks ago.

For the past week, officials in Wagoner County have been encouraging people who live in the hardest hit areas from the Broken Arrow tornado to bring their debris up to the curb so they can remove it.

Wagoner County Emergency Management says the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality has approved their permit to start hauling off debris left over from a tornado that touched down in May.

The EF-2 tornado tore a path through homes and businesses in Broken Arrow along 225th and East 91st streets.

5/31/2013 Related Story: Broken Arrow Tornado Victims Grateful To Survive

All the material that was blown away by the tornado has to go somewhere. Officials are trying to get all the debris that was cleaned up into a concentrated area. Then, some of it will be burned off or taken to a certified landfill.

The permitting process to transport the debris took a few weeks to get approved, officials say. The county says, at this point they are picking up the tab for debris removal.

"We have a lot of trees. Our dump trucks will average about eight cubic yards every time they go out of here. We're going to have six all day out here with heavy equipment, so it's going to take a long process to get it out of here," said Heath Underwood, of Wagoner County Emergency Management.

Household debris will eventually be separated, this brush here will be actually burned in a separate pile in a remote area of the county.

Tonight at 9 and 10, Tony Russell spoke to one homeowner who has been working since the tornado to get debris ready for collection.

5/31/2013 Related Story: Broken Arrow Tornado Followed Same Path As Similar One 37 Years Prior