From fallen trees to broken branches, the aftermath of recent storms is still keeping Erie’s public works crews busy.

At the city’s compost site, crews have been handling the debris collected from neighborhoods across Erie.

“We estimated that we have about 20,000 cubic yards of tree removal of tree damage that’s down. So, you know, that’s quite a bit and so that’s going to take a while for us to clean that up,” Jeff Gibbens, the Assistant Director of Public Works for the City of Erie, said.

Once the debris arrives at the site, crews begin the process of turning what was once storm damage into something that can be put back to use.

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“This is our compost site where everything has been brought down to, and it’s absolutely overrun with trees. So right now, we have a contractor in that is grinding the trees and then we have another contractor that’s hauling them out because all the city crews are all out picking up trees throughout the neighborhoods,” Gibbens said.

Gibbens said the hired companies will ground and mulch the debris up before they decide what to do with it next.

To help complete the process, Gibbens asks residents to move their car off the streets so that way, the city can get to the spots they need to clean up the storm damage.

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“We still have some areas where people are not moving their cars, so we’ll get phone calls that they didn’t pick it up. We can’t go around your car to get it. So, if your neighbor’s parked in front of it, you have to ask them to move it. Because we won’t be able to get it if it’s behind a car,” Gibbens said.

The compost site is expected to be completely done grinding and hauling out the tree and branch damage within the next week so it can prepare for compost season.

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