Montana News

The City of Missoula offers to pick up residential tree debris left by July thunderstorm

Piles of tree debris still litter yards in almost every Missoula neighborhood. Hurricane force winds the evening of July 24th toppled power lines and flattened or damaged trees that stood for generations. The City of Missoula is now offering to pick up residential tree debris.

Duration:: 1m
Broadcast on:: 08 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Crews continue picking up the pieces two weeks after a severe thunderstorm slammed into Missoula and surrounding communities. The city of Missoula is now offering to pick up residential tree debris. MTPR's Edward O'Brien reports. Piles of tree debris still litter yards in almost every Missoula neighborhood. Hurricane Force wins the evening of July 24th toppled power lines and flattened or damaged trees that stood for generations. Experts estimate at least 80 percent of city trees sustained some type of damage in the days immediately following the storm. County and city crews focused their cleanup efforts on public rights of way, including street sidewalks and alleys. At that time, officials said they did not have the capacity to remove debris from private property. That changed this week. It's really the evolution of a disaster like this. Nick Holloway of Missoula County's Office of Emergency Management says local government crews now have more leeway to help out residents. We needed as much help as we could get really on and we did not intend to haul private debris of residential properties until we had a better assessment of just how much debris there was and how much help was needed with that. Crews will move through all of Missoula's neighborhoods over the next four to six weeks. Planned pickup areas will be posted every Friday at the county's website. It's unclear what the cleanup effort will cost. Following local disaster declaration, requests Governor Greg G. and Forte issued a state disaster declaration for Missoula and mineral counties. That means the state will spend money from the general fund to help the area get back on its feet. Reporting from the Zula, I'm Edward O'Brien. This is MTPR.