EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH - Mayor Kip Holden announced on Thursday that EBR City-Parish debris removal contractors will start work next Monday in response to recent flooding.

Authorized contractors will begin removal in neighborhoods and areas with the highest concentration of flood-related debris that are accessible to the debris removal trucks.

The Mayor’s Office said the plan takes into consideration initial damage assessments, debris-related collection projections and the need for navigable streets and safe environments in which residents can place debris curbside.

“The devastation our Baton Rouge community has experienced over the past several days cannot be put into words, with so many residents and businesses having lost so much in such a short period of time,” said Mayor Holden. “That said, time and time again we’ve shown to the world that our community is a resilient one. We will recover, we will rebound, and we will rebuild. That process starts now, and our commitment to the residents of Baton Rouge is that we will work tirelessly to remove any flood-related debris as quickly as we can so our residents are able to begin rebuilding,” said the Mayor’s Office.

An initial debris removal schedule is expected to be posted later this week. It will include a web-based map for residents to track where debris removal trucks have been on a daily basis and where they are headed next. Mayor Holden has emphasized this process will be one in which debris removal contractors are held accountable, and one in which residents will have full visibility to track the progress of this debris collection in all areas impacted by recent flooding events.

Residents are encouraged to follow the City-Parish’s social media channels on Facebook and Twitter for additional updates.

Residents of the cities of Baker, Zachary and Central are advised to contact their respective city agencies to find out more about debris collection schedules.