Thousands of cubic yards of Hurricane Helene debris removed in Aiken with lots more to go
Hurricane Helene uprooted thousands of trees and limbs as it snaked its way through the Central Savannah River Area on Sept. 27.
Recovery efforts are still underway 68 days post storm in the Augusta area and in Aiken County.
“There’s piles of tree debris pretty high along the road on Five Notch Road at Georgia Avenue,” said Chip McClard, a North Augusta resident. “Driving down the road you feel like you’re going to run into them.
"In comparison to Richmond and Columbia counties, it just seems like things are moving a lot slower. There aren’t as many crews working here as there are in Richmond and Columbia counties.”
According to the Aiken County Debris Removal Dashboard as of Wednesday:
Total Loads: 1,074
Total Cubic Yards: 46,034
Total Vegetative Cubic Yards: 46,034
McClard, who settled in North Augusta in 1982, said he never experienced a hurricane of the magnitude of Helene.
“Back in 2014 we had a bad ice storm,” said the 71-year-old. “There were a lot of tree limbs down and power outages. But it wasn't nearly as extensive as this.
"Usually, by the time a hurricane comes inland, they're fairly slow and they lose a lot of punch. We'll get a lot of rain and some wind. But nothing nearly like this. Helene was moving so fast that it didn't have a chance to weaken enough when it got here.”
Lex Kirkland, assistant city manager for Aiken, told The Augusta Chronicle in an email that the "debris collected by the City of Aiken is being mulched and hauled to Humble Acres in Blackville, S.C.”
As for whether or not officials have received any complaints from the public, he said, “Most comments have been positive. The complaints typically concern when the debris will be picked up. The city isn’t predicting an end date at this time regarding when all of the tree debris will be removed.”
Aiken Mayor Teddy Milner said the city turned to the county for assistance.
“I feel that the city has done a miraculous job and is learning as much as they have, and still managing to keep up with the trash pickups,” said Milner. “The assistant city manager learned from the ice storm in the past. We immediately contacted the county and hired their contractors, which alleviated the situation tremendously.
“That brought in extra help. We’ve also had a tremendous amount of help from volunteers. People got out there and helped cut limbs off trees for people.”
Milner said residents have reached out for status updates.
“It doesn’t bother me at all,” she said. “I love answering questions. The problem is that during the ice storms, it was just branches that would fall off. This time around we have these huge trees and stumps that the storm left behind. So, the road to recovery is going to be long.”
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with several funders and Journalism Funding Funding Partners.
Erica Van Buren is the climate change reporter for The Augusta Chronicle, part of the USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at EVanBuren@gannett.com or on X: @EricaVanBuren32.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Tree debris removal remains an issue 68 days post Hurricane Helene
