Video: Where Debris Goes After Clean Up

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COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — Nearly two months after Lowndes County’s 5 tornadoes touched down, debris clean up continues at Columbus’s landfill.

“We have it here temporarily until Triangle Maintenance, who is coordinating with us, is going to chip the debris and take it to Weyerhaeuser, which will preserve our landfill for about 6 or 7 months more,” said Columbus Public Works Director Casey Bush.

Together Columbus and Lowndes County used 10 trucks and 3 excavators, transferring rubble from neighborhoods to the landfill.

“It’s over 3,400 tons and they’re still bringing some more because we still have some from the county that’s still coming in. So we’re looking probably, I would say at maybe 4,400 tons of debris,” said Bush.

Once it gets here, teams divide the debris: Separating trees, glass and other material.

“We have construction debris, which we take to another site because FEMA doesn’t want all of it in one spot,” said Bush.

It’s a long and tedious process, requiring hours of sacrifice from public workers.

“The guys out at the landfill have been working 7 days a week, 13 hours a day with the county, trying to make sure their debris gets picked up and brought to the landfill,” said Bush.

Lee County, Itawamba and Tupelo had most of their debris shipped to the TMCO Rubbish Site. More than 80 percent of tornado debris has already been covered up with dirt.