62°
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
7 Day Forecast
Follow our weather team on social media

Storm debris from winter storm sits idle, homeowner struggles to get it cleared

3 years 7 months 1 week ago Friday, April 23 2021 Apr 23, 2021 April 23, 2021 5:03 PM April 23, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

CENTRAL - Storm debris leftover from the February ice storm is still sitting in one neighborhood in Central.

Jeremy Pourciau lives on Brett Lane and says he's tired of looking at storm debris piled high near his house. He's calling on someone to do their job as they've done for everyone else in his neighborhood.

Pourciau says he had quite the mess to clean up after the ice storm.

"We had branches that were snapping left and right," he said.

Then, a loud crash. An oak tree in the front yard split in three, taking down a second tree with it.

"I had a group of guys, friends, that came and they helped cut the tree up," said Pourciau.

Another friend with a Bobcat helped to drag it to the cul-de-sac in front of his house. There is no space to put storm debris at his curb since there's a drainage ditch and trees near the front of his property. Another tree that fell on his neighbor's property was also cut up and placed around the cul-de-sac. The debris has been sitting there since the week of the ice storm and Pourciau wants them gone.

"They picked up everybody that you see in the front of this neighborhood but they did not come back here," he said. "I saw the truck circle the cul-de-sac and left and we just thought that they were going to come back, and here we are at the end of April and it's still not gone."

Pourciau says he's made a few phone calls to no avail.

"We've called Central, Central said because they don't have the garbage here it's East Baton Rouge, that they have the contract to come pick this up," he said.

But the parish tells 2 On Your Side it's not them. The City-Parish says the debris in question is from Winter Storm Uri at an address in the City of Central. City-Parish says it does not pick up emergency storm debris in Central because they have a separate debris collection contract. The parish visited the vegetation earlier this week and placed a notice on Pourciau's mailbox that said it's the responsibility of the homeowner.

Pourciau says he's tired of looking at the debris and is afraid the longer it sits that someone is going to get hurt.

"I don't know what else to do, we just want it picked up like everybody else's was picked up," he said.

Friday, 2 On Your Side asked the City of Central about this case and Central said it's looking into it.

More News

Desktop News

Click to open Continuous News in a sidebar that updates in real-time.
Radar
7 Days