Wilmington debris cleanup could cost $20 million
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY/StarNews) — The city estimates it will spend $13 million to $20 million on debris cleanup following Hurricane Florence.
At an agenda review meeting Monday morning, the Wilmington City Council was given a presentation on the post-storm efforts to clear debris from city streets and pick it up from the curbs. Dave Mayes, the director of public services for the city, puts that estimate into context by showing the costs for Hurricane Matthew ($1.1 million) and Hurricane Irene ($570,000).
Deputy City Manager Tony Caudle started the presentation by reminding council this storm has brought damage not seen since Hurricane Fran and Floyd in the 1990s.
“This particular storm has been 22 years in the making,” he said. “It’s not that we haven’t had storms in that time, but it’s been 22 years since we had a storm of this magnitude that caused this amount of debris to come down.”
City leaders say as much as 1 million cubic yards of debris could be removed. Progress of the city’s debris pickup contractors can be tracked here.
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