Six weeks after Vicksburg public works crews began working in the city’s flood-damaged areas of Kings, Cedars School Circle and Warrenton Place, the streets and curbs are clear of flood debris.

A few small piles remain on Hutson Street in the Kings community, awaiting a visit from a crew sometime next week, when the city concludes its storm debris collection.

“We set the second week in August (Aug. 8 to 12) as the deadline for collecting flood debris,” Richardson said. “We set that deadline at the request of FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency). They wanted a deadline to have time to process the paperwork on the city’s claim for reimbursement (for the collection).”

Richardson said the Aug. 12 deadline was selected because of the success of initial debris collections in late June, adding, “After Aug, 12, we will no longer be collecting flood debris.”

Mayor Paul Winfield, however, said city crews could still be collecting debris after Friday if it is put on the curb.

“If people put (flood) debris on the curb, I think we would be obligated to pick it up,” he said. “I think we need to have some discussions on that.”

Residents in the Kings community, west of North Washington Street, and the Cedars School Circle and Warrenton Place areas, west of U.S. 61 South, fled their homes in early May as the Mississippi River rose to a historic 57.1 feet, 14.1 feet above flood stage and 1.3 feet above the Great Flood of 1927. The floodwaters surrounded and entered homes in those areas.

Assessments done immediately after the flood by city inspection officials indicated the damage to some of the homes in Kings was greater than the value of the building.

Many residents who fled the areas returned to their homes in early and mid-June, after the waters receded, to clear debris and begin repairs.

The Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen on June 24 approved using city employees and equipment, and hiring monitors to collect and dispose of flood debris in the affected areas. Winfield opposed the decision and recommended using private contractors.

City workers began collecting debris on June 27. By July 1, the crews had made one tour of flood-damaged areas, collecting about 144 tons of flood debris, and were beginning a second tour in Kings. Richardson said further information on the total amount of debris collected will not be available until after Aug. 12.

“The people were very cooperative and put their debris on the curb,” he said. “Things went so well that, after the first week, we went from daily collection to weekly collections. The crews were seeing fewer piles each week.”

Some of the debris piles now in the Kings area, he said, are from demolitions as people raze their homes and replace them with mobile homes. FEMA won’t reimburse the city for collecting building materials from demolitions, he said.

According to the city’s buildings and inspection department, 12 property owners in Kings have received permits to demolish their homes.

A drive through Kings on Friday indicated a few homes had been razed. In two spots off Hutson Street, homes have been replaced with elevated mobile homes. Some houses in Kings, however, appeared to have never been reopened by their owners.

Richardson doesn’t believe that FEMA will reimburse the city for flood debris collected after Friday, but Winfield thinks it will.

“I believe we have an 18-month window where we can be reimbursed,” the mayor said.

Hiring private contractors, Winfield said, would have allowed the city more time to clear flood debris and provided opportunities for other work, such as drainage projects in Kings.

“We could have worked to get right of entry, which would have allowed us to go on private property to get debris and take down abandoned homes,” he said. “I promise you, this time next year there will be an abandoned house that’s going to be an eyesore in the (Kings) community.”