A representative from the Governor’s Division of Emergency Management is scheduled to tour the Salado and Little River-Academy areas today. After the tour, the representative is expected to inform county commissioners about the possibility of disaster relief for individuals who have suffered property damage.
If relief is made available it would be through the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs and not FEMA.
Commissioners expressed satisfaction with the cleanup efforts under way since Wednesday.
“There is still a lot of stuff out there but there has been an amazing amount of progress,” said Tim Brown, Precinct 2 commissioner.
The landfill on Old Landfill Road just outside Holland is now open to residents who can haul in storm-related brush on their own.
Last week, it was only open to contractors working for the county.
Commissioner Richard Cortese, Precinct 1, said the county plans on keeping the landfill open through Sunday. He said commissioners would monitor the situation throughout the week to determine if that date needs to be extended.
One of the reasons the county agreed to help with brush cleanup following Wednesday’s storm is because crews opened roadways as quickly as possible by pushing debris off the roadway and onto the shoulder.
By the time crews got around to picking up the piles of brush, some residents had already been adding to the piles, making it difficult to determine who was responsible for picking up the mess from the side of the roadway.
So far, the county’s cost for helping clear up the brush has been between $8,000 and $10,000, according to calculations from figures discussed in a workshop on Monday.
Commissioners are considering hiring city of Temple crews to help speed up the process. The crews and equipment, which includes brush trucks, would be available three days this week for about $5,400 a day, according to discussions from the workshop.
The debris is being dropped off at the front end of the landfill. Richard Macchi, county engineer, said there is no traffic or debris near the cap of the landfill, which has not been in use for more than a decade.
Commissioners plan to grind up the brush and are in the process of finding a contractor with the equipment to do the job.
