Crews removing tons of debris after tornado

Published 12:38 pm Thursday, March 7, 2019

CAIRO, Ga. — Georgia Department of Transportation crews removed 175 loads of debris from Cairo by Thursday morning after an EF2 tornado touched down Sunday night, according to GDOT officials.

“We have dump trucks in steady rotation out there,” said GDOT spokesperson Juanita Birmingham. “They’ll load one and as soon as it leaves to go to the landfill another one is coming in to get loaded.”

Birmingham said she could not provide an estimate as to how much debris would be removed from affected areas by Friday morning until she received her daily report from the GDOT area office.

All state routes were open Thursday morning, though Birmingham said residents may encounter temporarily blocked city streets in affected areas as crews continue to clear debris.

“When GDOT crews are working on a street typically they will close off the portion of the street that they’re working on, and that’s just because we do have trucks running in and out,” Birmingham said. “These are narrow two lane roads and the dump trucks are having to park across the lanes in order for the backhoes to dump the debris in the back of the truck.”

Birmingham said GDOT crews will continue to assist in clearing streets until Governor Brian Kemp’s state of emergency expires Saturday, March 9 at 11:59 p.m. Kemp declared a state of emergency Monday morning in Grady, Harris, and Talbot counties.

The spokesperson said it was possible GDOT crews could still be working in Cairo through Saturday given the amount of tornado debris that remains in the streets.

“If you’ve been to Cairo, you’ve seen it’s a tremendous amount of debris out there,” Birmingham said. “I have no idea (how much debris remains).”

Birmingham said 40 loads of debris were cleared Tuesday and an additional 135 loads were cleared Wednesday by the 27 GDOT personnel and 21 vehicles deployed to the affected area in Cairo.

The spokesperson said debris cannot be removed unless it is placed by the road along the right of way. GDOT crews cannot enter private property to collect debris.

Once collected, the the debris is then disposed of at the Cairo city landfill as requested by city officials.

Birmingham said GDOT crews were still picking up debris along state routes in Grady County that was left by Hurricane Michael in October when the tornado hit Sunday.

The Grady County GDOT crews were pulled into the city to prioritize removing tornado debris following Kemp’s state of emergency declaration.

“Once everything is done (in Cairo), if there’s no other state of emergency proclamation, then our folks can go back to working on state routes,” Birmingham said.

Students were able to return to class Wednesday with some bus routes in affected areas being temporarily rerouted.

All county schools were closed Monday and Tuesday when Cairo High School and Southside Elementary lost power during Sunday night’s storm.

City Manager Chris Addleton estimated 100 homes experienced extensive damage after conducting an aerial survey Monday with the Georgia State Patrol and state and local Emergency Management Agency officials.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee conducted a survey Monday that determined that a tornado with approximate wind speeds of 120 miles per hour touched down at approximately 7:54 p.m. Sunday in southern Cairo and traveled northeast for six minutes before dissipating.

There were no serious injuries or deaths from the storm in Grady County.