25 Million Cubic Yards Of Debris Cleared In Mississippi
Release Date: December 22, 2005
Release Number: 1604-186
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JACKSON, Miss. -- Since Hurricane Katrina made landfall Aug. 29, 2005, tremendous progress has been made in the clearing of debris from public and private property in the state of Mississippi. Katrina left more than 40 million cubic yards of debris in its wake and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, local governments and their contractors have worked with the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to clear more than 25 million cubic yards of debris.
To give one an idea of how much debris has been cleared, it would take someone in a standard pick up truck more than 8 million trips to a waste facility to move 25 million cubic yards of debris. If the number of pick up trucks to haul 25 million cubic yards of debris lined up, they would stretch around the world. Twenty-five million cubic yards of debris placed in a building 100 feet by 100 feet, would reach 13 miles into the sky.
“Federal, state and local officials are working together to clean up affected areas so communities can recover,” said Nick Russo, the federal coordinating officer for FEMA’s Mississippi recovery efforts. “The removal of debris following Hurricane Katrina is a massive task that we are getting closer to completion everyday.”
Debris removal operations throughout the state are approximately 60 percent complete. As the Corps nears the end of its mission of clearing debris on rights of way, more crews are being allocated to remove debris on private property. The Corps has already surpassed the halfway point for its FEMA-assigned mission to remove debris in several counties and cities receiving direct federal assistance.
Debris removal on private property is well underway in several areas. Sixteen counties and 36 cities have requested and been approved for private property debris removal. To date 43,651 right-of-entries (ROEs) have been received for private property debris removal. Of the 33,133 ROEs that have been inspected, 6,034 have had all debris hazards removed from them.
FEMA manages federal response and recovery efforts following any national incident. FEMA also initiates mitigation activities, works with state and local emergency managers, and manages the National Flood Insurance Program. FEMA became part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on March 1, 2003.