People in Western North Carolina are still without drinking water, power and other basic services after Tropical Storm Helene, and the search for the missing continues.
But some of the longer-term challenges associated with recovering from the storm are starting to become clearer, including how to deal with the mountains of downed trees, shattered buildings and other debris.
Jonathan Kanipe, city manager of Biltmore Forest in Buncombe County, said Helene has cut down a “countless number” of trees in his heavily forested community of 1,500 residents. A debris removal company estimates it will collect 100,000 cubic yards of trees and branches from the 3-square-mile city, Kanipe said.
“To visualize that, imagine a football field covered with material to a depth of 18 meters,” he said at a press conference on Thursday. “It is very likely that the final number will be greater than this.”
Floodwaters that swept across Western North Carolina carried shattered chunks of farms, homes, rural stores and campgrounds into the hills and valleys. Mangled cars and washing machines, propane tanks and the belongings of thousands of people are now trapped in tangled piles of trees felled by wind and water.
The sheer number of fallen trees makes the task of cleanup after Helene more difficult than after most hurricanes, said Joe Hack, senior project manager for the Mecklenburg County Solid Waste Department and president of the state chapter of the Solid Waste Association of North America. a trading group.
“It will probably take months, maybe years, to get some of the debris from some of the back areas,” Hack said in an interview.
For most communities, cleaning up that debris is not yet a priority. Buncombe County is still in the cut-and-clear phase, which involves moving trees and debris to the side of blocked streets and roads, said County Manager Avril Pinder.
But Pinder said the province has started talking to municipalities about where that material will go. They have designated storage areas for storm debris, she said, but given the sheer size created by Tropical Storm Helene, “we need to expand that tremendously.”
Pinder said Buncombe County has also started talking to state regulators about possibly burning vegetative waste. State law prohibits most outdoor burning, but trees and other plants can be burned under certain circumstances, according to the state Department of Air Quality.
As for building materials, furniture and other non-vegetative waste, the province is talking to companies that take construction and demolition waste, Pinder said.
“We know a few places nearby where we can ship that to,” she said. “We are working with them now on contracts and what that will look like.”
The shortage of landfills could become even worse
The state Division of Solid Waste Management regulates and helps coordinate debris cleanup after a storm, Hack said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will likely provide funding to help pay for this. On Wednesday in Raleigh, President Joe Biden said he had approved a request from Gov. Roy Cooper to pay for the full cost of debris removal for at least the next six months.
But it will primarily be up to each county and city to determine how to clean up, in consultation with private transportation and disposal companies, Hack said.
“Each community will evaluate the best way to deal with it,” he said. “There is a lot we don’t know yet.”
Hack said much of the material will be transported to emergency debris sites, where some effort will be made to separate trees, cars and refrigerators, household waste and hazardous materials so they can all be sent to the appropriate disposal facility.
Some provinces have landfills where the material can be stored; Others usually ship their waste anyway and will have to find a place to pick up storm waste.
“In the long run, there is ultimately a shortage of landfills or a shortage of disposal capacity in North Carolina,” Hack said. “And this will only accelerate the filling of some facilities.”
