Depending on where you live, cleanup following the derecho earlier this month is going to take a long time. Bettendorf expects to finish picking up downed tree limbs and branches within a couple of weeks, while other cities are predicting six weeks, or longer.
In Rock Island, Director of Public Works Mike Bartels has three crews working each day, with front end loaders, brush chippers, and large trucks.
"In our municipal services division we have pretty much everyone devoted to storm debris cleanup that can be. Obviously our refuse collectors have to collect trash but other than that pretty much everbody is boots on the ground collecting what we can."
Following the storm, they spent a week just clearing the streets, then began picking up storm debris from homes and businesses. He says they're making good progress but it could take up to ten weeks to do a full cleanup of the city.
In a press release, Bettendorf says it's collected more than 4,000 cubic yards of storm debris so far, and cleaned up about 65 per cent of the city. And the job should be done within a couple of weeks.
Using about 70 employees from the Department of Public Works, Davenport says it's made a "dent" but it will take time. They've completed initial cleanup in three zones of the city, and have started work in five other zones. But there are six more zones in Davenport the crews might not even get to for the first time until next week. The city is promising they'll work extended shifts, and on weekends, for the foreseeable future.
Rod Schick, Municipal Services General Manager for Moline, says probably a dozen people are devoted each day to cleanup, and hauling away more than 20 truckloads each day. They first focused on schools.
"In areas where we know there's high traffic for kids walking to school so they have safe routes to school. So we don't have to worry about traffic, them stepping out into the traffic, or also so that anybody walking on the sidewalk is clearly visible by cars."
And this week, his crews began "a full sweep" of the rest of Moline, hoping to finish in five to six weeks.
