August 26, 2021
HAYWOOD COUNTY, N.C (WLOS) — On Thursday, Aug. 26, the Haywood County Board of Commissioners held an emergency meeting to discuss the impacts of Tropical Storm Fred, debris removal, and getting displaced people back into their homes.
Commissioners voted to enter into contracts with DebrisTech, LLC and Southern Disaster Recovery, LLCS, for debris removal management and monitoring.
Chip Patterson with Southern Disaster Recovery said they anticipate beginning debris removal Friday afternoon.
"Where we want to be is about 4,000-5,000 cubic yards a day coming out of the communities," Patterson said.
With so much devastation in Haywood County and many other factors impacting the process, he said it would likely take some time to get all the debris out.
"It puts us around 30 to 40 days to get the projected amount of debris out," Patterson said. However, he said residents could see trucks coming in and out of the communities for as long as 60 days.
Patterson said they'll start in Canton, Clyde, and Bethel, with Cruso coming later once infrastructure there has improved and NCDOT trucks aren't as busy in that area.
The county's contract with Southern Disaster Recovery is for up to $4 million, and its contract with DebrisTech is for up to $939,000.
But the county manager said the state had vetted these contracts, and they expect to be reimbursed by FEMA. He said FEMA is expected to be there this week to assess damage, and he's anticipating a federal disaster declaration within the next 10 days or so.
The county manager said the total damage needs to amount to $15 million for the county to likely get the declaration, and he believes it will.
On Thursday, county commissioners also voted to allocate $5 million from the fund balance for cleanup costs and $175,000 for the Rapid Response Program.
"That is our recovery mission... is to get folks back into their homes," said Bill Martin with the Rapid Response Team.
Martin said they have 20 to 22 teams out in the field working daily. They're taking out insulation and furniture so that the homes can dry up. He said before they can start rebuilding, they have to wait for the house to dry up and get to a moisture content of 19%.
"It's killing everybody because we're ready to start," Martin said.
County commissioners said the $175,000 allocation for the Rapid Response Program is just a starting point because they know there's a lot of homes in need of repairs.