The massive piles of tree branches and logs that have lined Erie streets since a powerful storm hit just before Labor Day weekend are finally starting to disappear.<\/p>\n
Crews with the City of Erie Public Works Department have begun a neighborhood-by-neighborhood effort to collect storm debris piled in front of homes.<\/p>\n
On Monday, crews worked from West 12th Street north to the Bayfront, between Weschler and State streets, and on the city’s east side from State Street to East Avenue.<\/p>\n
It’s a major cleanup effort, with city crews going street by street and pile by pile to collect branches and sections of trees knocked down during the storm.<\/p>\n
For homeowners, clearing the debris has also been a major undertaking.<\/p>\n
West Sixth Street resident Bob Schell said he has been working on the cleanup since the storm.<\/p>\n
“We were fortunate it wasn’t as bad as our neighbors or on Fifth Street,” Schell said. “I just brought the last load out for the crews to pick up.”<\/p>\n
Schell said he understands the scope of the job facing city crews.<\/p>\n
“It was a lot of devastation,” he said.<\/p>\n
The debris collected by city crews is being hauled to the city’s composting site near the wastewater treatment plant.<\/p>\n
Truckload after truckload of branches and logs are being dumped at the site, creating a massive pile that illustrates the extent of the storm’s impact across Erie.<\/p>\n
The material is then fed into a chipper and turned into wood chips.<\/p>\n
While the cleanup is underway, some of the largest remnants of fallen trees are still waiting to be addressed.<\/p>\n
The city has not yet begun removing the massive tree stumps left behind by trees that were knocked down in the storm.<\/p>\n
The city administration plans to seek Erie City Council approval this week to hire a contractor to grind down the stumps as a separate part of the cleanup effort.<\/p>\n
For residents still waiting for debris in front of their homes to be collected, city officials are asking for patience as crews continue working through the neighborhoods.<\/p>\n