KILGORE, Texas —
On Thursday March 14th, residents in the City of Kilgore came outside to trees scattered all over yards, roads, on top of houses and on cars.
"We didn't know at first weather it was a tornado or straight line winds,” Brady Hendrix, leader of the street department crew for the City of Kilgore said.
It was two weeks ago today that a storm passed through the city.
"A disaster that's what it was,” Carlos Switzer, Operator 3 for the City of Kilgore said.
It was classified as straight line winds, leaving residents and crews with the city still cleaning up the mess.
"Lots and lots of activity, they have a ton of stuff to get out of here, no surprise they're still working on it,” David Ribble, a resident living in Kilgore said.
"It's been some long days. It's kinda easing up the pressure is off," Danny Downing, Director of Parks and Rec said. "It's just removing debris from the home sites and off the home way edges and now we're seeing the lines at the end of the tunnel.”
The city is dumping all the debris from the storm at a green waste site. The amount of debris usually fills up half the height of what it is currently as a result of the storm.
Downing estimates the site is the length of an entire football field, the debris being about ten feet tall.
All the debris that came from that night is still adding up everyday.
"As far as clean up wise we're probably about 75-80 percent,” Hendrix said.
Kilgore city manager Josh Selleck refers to the effort as an all hands on deck type of effort to get streets clean.
According to the city, 159 homes in total received some type of structural damage. About 40 homes are classified as total structure damage.
The city is still going around neighborhoods issuing permits to residents. They will also be inspecting contractors work.
"Our goal is to make sure they're using appropriate materials that they're methods are appropriate," Selleck said. "A lot of these people are rebuilding major constructional components of the their home.”
The city wants residents to know if they haven't gotten to the debris near your home, they will get to you sometime over the next several days.
All the debris that is currently at the waste site, will be ground up into mulch and given to the city of Kilgore. They encourage the citizens to pick some up.