Springfield homeowners relying on the city-wide storm debris sweep

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — After a season of severe storms, many around Springfield are still working to clean up downed trees and storm debris following two big storms in April and June. 

Melanie Curtis lives in southwest Springfield. Her neighbor's tree fell onto her yard, crushing her fence and other trees. She's hired a yard service to help her move the brush to the curb so she can replace her fence.

"It's been three weeks to clean this up and we've moved into dangerously hot temperatures," said Curtis. "At this point, he should not be out here. No one should be working outside. This is a fire waiting to happen right here."

After another forecast round of severe weather on July 17, the City of Springfield rescheduled its community-wide Clean Green SGF Storm Debris Volunteer Day to Thursday, July 24. Therefore, pushing back Public Works' debris removal sweep. Curtis said she is thankful for the city's help but wishes it would have come faster.

"I know it was a last-minute decision to do that volunteer cleanup, but they need to communicate the date better, so we know what's happening on what date," said Curtis. "I think a lot of us thought it was all going to be carried away on the 17."

Sarah Allen is also working on cleaning up her yard from downed trees. She said her family has been able to drag half of the debris to the curb.

"It's going to be a little bit of an eyesore, having been out here for a long time, but everyone's kind of in the same boat and I am honestly glad that they are coming to get it because we've taken three trips already to the recycling, just getting the smaller stuff and that was a lot of work," said Allen.

Registration is not required for the sweep. However, the city is asking residents only leave organic debris by the curb before 7 a.m. on the first day of your city council zone's scheduled pickup week. Debris cannot block sidewalks or driveways.

"We've got a big pile started in the front. We got another one in the back we're going to bring forward once the city comes to pick it up," said Allen. "I appreciate that they consider the fact that we had an April storm and we had this storm, and there's a lot of people that just physically can't get the stuff ourselves."

After the volunteer day, Public Works neighborhood debris sweeps will begin according to your city council zone.

• Zone 1: August 11–15

• Zone 3: August 18–22

• Zone 2: August 25–29

• Zone 4: September 1–5

To find the zone you live in, visit here.

The volunteer day is to help people who are physically unable to move storm debris to the curb for the separate debris pickup effort through Public Works.

As for the volunteer day, residents who already signed up to get assistance will remain on the list, and volunteers will be sent an email to confirm if they are still able to help.

Volunteer opportunities are still available at www.CleanGreenSGF.com.