NC Department of Environmental Quality staff tours storm debris site in Whiteville

WHITEVILLE, NC (WWAY) — Now that the flooding from Hurricane Matthew has gone down, many are still cleaning up from what it left behind.
Years ago, the state has put practices in places to make the recovery process easier.

By the truck loads, NCDOT continues to collect limbs and leaves and dump it at storm debris sites across the region.

NC Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Donald van der Vaart and other state officials met and toured the site and say having pre-selected sites so they can get activated sooner is very important.

That was something they learned during Hurricane Floyd in 1999.

“It’s hard to think you can be prepared for a 500 to 1000 year flood,” van der Vaart said. “I think we were much better prepared than we were for Floyd.”

van der Vaart says there are currently more than 60 sites across eastern North Carolina but it’s likely to see more sites added as people continue to assess the damage.

“We will learn from this storm as well as soon as we get people back into their homes and back to work. We are going to do a lesson learned and make it better for the future,” van der Vaart said.

Columbus County Soil Waste Director Danny Fowler says on Friday they had already taken in 297 tons of yard waste but say this is only the beginning, but what happens to the debris is still undetermined.

“I don’t know what exactly they are going to let us do with it or help us do with it. We are going to have to do have help one way or another burning or chipping it,” Fowler said.

Officials says depending on where you live will determine whether you can take your storm debris to the designated site or just leave it by the road.