News

Debris removal cost will top $10 million

County crews and a contractors are removing more than 100,000 tons of debris left by Hurricane Helene. [HENDERSON COUNTY VIDEO]

By Lightning Reports, Published: October 27, 2024

The cost to dispose of the mountains of storm debris left in the wake of Hurricane Helene's destruction will exceed $10 million, County Engineer Marcus Jones says.

County Engineer Marcus Jones describes the process the county will use to pick up 120,000 tons of hurricane debris. [HENDERSON COUNTY VIDEO]
"We have calculated the amount of debris in the county now and have determined that the value to remove that debris is $10 million-plus," he said in a video the county posted last week. "We're talking about a year's worth of trash coming from the storm which has to be processed on top of our normal amount of trash that we do every year, which is about 120,000 tons."

"But we've got help," he added, in the army of homeowners and volunteers who are chain-sawing trees, clearing property and piling debris at the curb. The county also activated its on-call contractor. "That's going to be a tremendous help in processing the additional trash volume," Jones said. He pledged: "We will pick up all the storm debris that is here in Henderson County. We're here and dedicated until it's all gone."