Scenes of the tornado cleanup in Macon: a wood chipper grinds through debris, as a backhoe digs through hills of fallen trees nearby. (Josephine Bennet)
Macon Mayor Robert Reichert is urging residents to be patient. Nearly two months after an F-2 tornado crisscrossed its way through the city the cleanup continues.
Original predictions by the Federal Emergency Management Agency underestimated the amount of debris left by the storm. Reichert says 250 truckloads a day are being brought to a large dump site located near a paper mill operated by Graphic Packaging. The paper mill is recycling some of the debris. FEMA regulations say all trucks must be weighed and counted.
"We've got thousands of dump truck loads to gather up and bring here. Thousands of them. Each load has to be monitored to be sure that it is filled and appropriately packed because FEMA regulations require that the loads be monitored."The mayor says it will be up to 60 days before they are finished. He says some of the wood waste is being turned into mulch. That mulch will eventually be available free of charge to residents.
Original estimates put the cost of debris removal at 1.2 million dollars. That figure is expected to rise.
