5.2M cubic feet of Helene-related debris collected in Northeast Tenn.

More than 5 million cubic yards of debris has been removed from four rivers and their tributaries in Northeast and East Tennessee since last year's flooding.Here's some perspective on the tropical storm-driven flooding that developed from Helene Sept. 27:Most full-size commercial dump trucks hold between 10 and 16 cubic years, which means 5.2 million cubic yards roughly would be between 325,000 and 520,000 dump truck loads. That's enough debris to fill 1,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools.A Knoxville-based private contractor, Phillips & Jordan, recently renamed Phillips Heavy Inc., did the removal under contract with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. The contractor's work in seven counties is officially done."Normally this kind of cleanup process would be handled by the local jurisdiction, but just due to the massive amount of debris and the unprecedented nature of this disaster the state assumes this responsibility just to get those areas restored as close to pre-Helene as possible," TEMA communications director Kristin Coulter said in a recent interview with Six Rivers Media.Coulter said 5.2 million cubic yards of debris was collected from the Watauga, Nolichucky, French Broad and Pigeon rivers and related tributaries in seven East Tennessee counties.Greene County had the most to be collected with 1.6 million cubic yards, followed by Cocke County with 1.4 million, Washington County 1.1 million, Carter County 406,400, Unicoi County 376,700 and Johnson 287,300, Coulter said.Hamblen, where Morristown is located, accounted for the remainder of the 5.2 million cubic yards handled in the waterway debris removal project TEMA awarded to Phillips.HOW MUCH DID THIS COST?Coulter said that the vast majority of the cost of the debris collections will be paid by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.She said the detailed agreement between FEMA and TEMA provides for FEMA reimbursement over a specified time, with what she called a small amount being paid by the state. However, as of press time she said she did not supply an overall amount, although she said it was sizable, and earlier said the amount to be paid by TEMA was still being determined.PHILLIPS TALKS DEBRIS COLLECTIONS"Our team led efforts to collect and dispose of both vegetative and man-made debris safely, restoring water flow and mitigating flood risk across East Tennessee's rivers and lakes," said Emily Torgerson, senior vice president of communications for Phillips."Phillips has decades of experience responding to major storm events nationwide," Torgerson said. "Each recovery effort brings its own set of challenges."She said Phillips in the past supported disaster recovery for hurricanes, including Katrina, Harvey, Irma, Ian, Michael and others. Its work spans debris removal, emergency access and infrastructure protection across both coastal and inland environments."Helene was especially complex due to the large amount of debris distributed across sensitive river systems and reservoirs, which required extensive overwater access, environmental coordination and the creation of temporary debris management sites," Torgerson said.WHAT WAS REMOVED, WHAT WAS NOTTo be removed, the TEMA officials said items just couldn't be in or near the waterways."Waterway debris removal had to have been in the waterways that were identified early on and then it had to be Helene related," Coulter said."There wasn't necessarily like a line, but if that debris on their property was still there, they needed to get it to the right-of-way and/or handle it," she said. "It wasn't an easy project, which took months to compete in difficult terrain and through all kinds of weather."Coulter also cautioned that some signs of the damage caused by Helene will remain for the foreseeable future despite all efforts to clean up and move on.TYPES OF DEBRISEverything from vegetation to vehicles and trailers were among removed debris."Vegetative debris was probably the most debris that was collected," Coulter stated. "But we were also getting trailers, vehicles, vessels, household hazardous waste, construction and demolition debris, white goods (large household appliances, traditionally those with a white exterior), e-waste (electronic waste), tires and then decaying debris were also on that list to remove from our waterways."Once debris were collected, something had to be done. Some will be used again, while other debris were simply thrown away."The debris that was vegetative was mulched and used through a recycling program. The mulch that was created was able to be put back into the areas to help with erosion and to help with stabilization," Coulter said. "Some of it was sent to the landfill and most of it outside of the vegetative debris was actually sent to the landfill."Although Coulter said the waterway debris collection project has ended, she added that doesn't mean there couldn't still be debris in local waterways.Coulter added that a sonar study recently concluded on the Watauga River found no debris that posed any kind of risks to boaters or anyone of that nature in that lake specifically."There is still going to be debris in the waterways. We removed the waterway that was determined to pose risk to health and safety. That could be because of the proximity to critical infrastructure like dams, but we removed what was determined to pose the greatest risk," Coulter said. "I think it is important to note that it doesn't matter how much effort that goes into something like this, the unfortunate circumstances of disasters is usually you are never going to get to what it was or how it was prior to, but our goal is surely to get it as close to as pre-Helene as possible."Coulter said the project scope varied across the region but added that Helene "certainly presented" challenges."This one was big, it impacted a very large region and there were multiple counties involved and there was a lot of destruction just because of the type of event that it was," Coulter said."What I will say: each disaster poses its own set of unique challenges and while this was the scale that it was," she said. "Back in April we had flooding and severe weather and tornadoes that impacted McNairy and Tipton and Obion and Montgomery counties in West and Middle Tennessee. Because of how our geography is different kinds of disasters are going to wreak havoc in different ways."MOVING FORWARDAlthough Coulter and the Phillips spokeswoman said that Phillips and its subcontractors have finished the debris removal project, Coulter said TEMA will remain in contact with local communities."People are still reaching out saying why this debris was collected, but this debris wasn't. Ultimately it boils down to that risk. We encourage people to contact our counties if they feel as though the debris that is on their property or if they have noticed something to reach out to the county," Coulter said."We are still very integrated within these communities, we still have weekly calls with the county mayors to make sure their needs are being met and to hear what is going on to see if there is anything we can continue to do in supporting them through this," she said. "We are almost a year out from the anniversary and recovery is still very much ongoing and it will still be ongoing for several years to come."Greene County had the most Helene-related debris to be collected with 1.6 million cubic yards, followed by Cocke County with 1.4 million, Washington County 1.1 million, Carter County 406,400, Unicoi County 376,700 and Johnson 287,300. Hamblen County accounted for the rest of the 5.2 million cubic yards total.