Monroe Co. Supervisors say storm debris is more than estimated

MONROE COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – It’s been almost three months since the devastating Hamilton tornado, and cleanup is still part of the daily routine.

Supervisors now say the amount of debris is a little more than originally estimated.

Original estimates were between 120,000 to 160,000 cubic yards of material that would have to be moved out across the county.

Those estimates turned out to be low.

“Construction debris was more than we anticipated because there were some homes that the insurance companies ended up totaling out that we thought would be repaired, so that has been higher,” said District 2 Supervisor Billy Kirkpatrick.

Even with the new numbers, Kirkpatrick said he and his fellow supervisors were not caught off guard by the increase.

“It’s really not that big a surprise to the board. It was a very difficult storm to estimate the amount of debris because of that fact that it went so far across the county,” said Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick said the board’s main concern is finding the money.

“The county will be responsible for 12 and half percent of the cost of this, so that gives the Board of Supervisors an incentive to try and hold the cost down,” said Kirkpatrick.

The contractor hired by the county has 90 days to complete the pickup process, and even with the increase in volume, Kirkpatrick said they should make that deadline.

“They’ve made their first pass in Hamilton. They’ve started their second pass this week. We’ll move to the north end of the county which is in my district, and it’s a lot different situation. It’s an area that’s mostly agricultural, mostly timber. We hope after two to three days toward the end of this week we’ll have a lot better idea of what that total volume is going to be,” said Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick said contractors will be announcing their third and final residential sweep soon, and the northern part of Monroe County should be on the lookout for a few road closures in the near future.