City of Temple hires help for ice storm clean up; residents had been waiting weeks for debris removal

TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) - The ice may be gone, but in Temple, debris from damaged trees and properties remains more than a month after Central Texas was battered by an ice storm.

One resident opted out of paying to have the brush hauled off weeks ago because he knew the city would do it for free.

“They said they could knock $200 off if I left most of the debris here, but the city was supposed to haul everything away for free,” says Thomas Teeter, a resident in Temple.

Teeter has been living in his Temple home for 14 years and says he has never seen anything like this before. He says the day after the ice melted, they put all of the debris in one huge 10 foot pile several feet from the curbside.

But as weeks have passed, the rain and wind from recent storms have forced that massive pile closer to the street.

The city says they know it has taken some time, but help is on the way. In fact, help is on the ground in parts of Temple right now.

“We realized it was just too much to do on our own,” says Allison O’Connor with the city of Temple.

The city hired D&J Enterprises out of Alabama to assist. The price tag on their help is $400,000, but the city says that it will not be something residents have to pay extra for.

“They’re going to stay in one area until that area is clear, and then they will move on to the next area. Meanwhile, city trucks are going to focus on their efforts on bulk so they’re not trying to do both,” O’Connor adds.

For residents like Teeter, he says the city should do whatever they need to do.

“It’s needed. Because they can’t handle it the way it is now,” he says.

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