Walton County Storm Debris Pickup Begins Wednesday
Curbside collection of Hurricane Isaias storm debris begins Wednesday across Walton County, and cleanup crews will make multiple passes down every road in the county, Freeport’s included. Walton County Emergency Management Director Jeff Goldberg puts the cleanup at roughly 250,000 cubic yards of debris, about $5 million worth of work.
The pickup marks the county’s shift from responding to the storm to recovering from it. “We’re out of the response phase, which is the sprint. We’re in the recovery phase, which is the marathon,” Goldberg said. “We’re asking for patience. It’s going to take time to get all of these trucks up and down every single road in Walton County to pull up the debris, and they’re not going to make just one pass. They’re not going to go down Ten Lake Drive once; they’re going to go down and make multiple passes.”
The most useful thing residents can do to speed the work is also the simplest: leave the debris loose. Collection trucks run grapple hooks that grab piles straight off the curb, and bagged debris slows the operation down — to the point that crews will now skip a bagged pile entirely. “If you put bags in there, it slows things down, and now we’re at a point where if they do see bags, they’re not even going to pick up your debris,” Goldberg said.
The price tag explains the patience the county is asking for. Debris removal is “one of the most expensive expenses in disaster recovery,” Goldberg said, and Walton County hopes FEMA funds will cover much of the cost. The county remains under a local state of emergency as the recovery continues, and the public beaches are on the removal list along with the roads.
The work is already visible in Freeport, where the city announced Tuesday that its Regional Sports Complex at 563 Hammock Trail E. is closed because of fallen trees and storm debris across its facilities and playgrounds. The complex is still serving as one of the county’s four resource distribution sites, where residents can pick up water, ice and shelf-stable meals alongside the Paxton Ag Center, the Emerald Coast Boys and Girls Club in Santa Rosa Beach and the DeFuniak Springs Community Center.
Originally reported by WJHG Newschannel 7, with Sports Complex closure details from the City of Freeport Florida and distribution site details from WJHG Newschannel 7. Image: WJHG Newschannel 7.
