ST. CHARLES PARISH (WGNO) — More than a month after Hurricane Ida, some of the hardest hit areas are slowly beginning to see progress, but many challenges remain.
In St. Charles Parish, leaders are staying in constant contact with debris and utility contractors to make sure restoration and cleanup efforts are on track. There is also a push to get those who need it into temporary housing.
So far, contractors have picked up more than 600,000 cubic yards of debris. Parish President Matthew Jewell said that’s five football fields piled 50 feet high.
“We believe we have around two million cubic yards of debris. It could be a little more or less,” Jewell said.
Across the parish, many residents still need to gut their homes and are waiting for debris to be picked up before they pile more on the curb.
“We have picked up debris and picked a street pretty clean and then you come back a couple of days later and it looks like you were never there in the first place,” Jewell said.
Parish leaders believe now that the majority of utilities have been restored, debris removal will speed up.
Jewell said many are still waiting on temporary housing from FEMA and some are already moving campers onto their property.
“They need to get that registered with planning and zoning just to get everything checked,” Jewell said. “We’ve waived all of the rules for having trailers hooked up to utilities in people’s front yards.”
