Special to the American Press

The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury’s debris contractor is entering the final pass for residential hurricane debris pickup.

As a result, the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury now advises residents living in the parish’s unincorporated areas to place all remaining hurricane debris to the curbside as soon as possible.

 Parish officials recommend that residents get all remaining hurricane debris to the roadside by Sunday, March 7. Please note that any debris not picked up in this final pass will have to be properly disposed of by property owners.

 Municipalities — cities or towns within Calcasieu Parish – are on different pickup schedules based on their individual contracts. If you live within a city or town’s limits, get all information on debris removal from city or town officials.

 To help expedite the debris pickup process, residents are asked to sort debris when placing it curbside – separate piles into vegetation, construction, appliances/white goods, electronics and hazardous household waste.

In addition, parish officials strongly encourage residents to rake loose debris into piles to make it possible for that debris to be collected by the truck’s claw – it is unable to pick up small or scattered pieces of debris.

 Raking loose debris will also help parish mowing crews. Keep in mind that crews will have to skip over ditches or areas with too much debris to avoid shredding and scattering it and to prevent people from being injured by flying debris.

 The parish’s Residential Solid Waste Convenience Centers in Sulphur and Lake Charles are open but are only accepting household residential waste from Calcasieu Parish residents (no contractors). No vegetation or construction/demolition debris is being accepted until further notice.

Additionally, the parish began removing eligible commercial debris from along state routes in unincorporated areas on Monday, Feb. 1. The parish is limited to one pass for each state route so this will be a one-time only collection for eligible businesses. The Calcasieu Parish Police Jury issued a press release on Jan. 18 advising eligible business owners to get their debris to the rights- of-way by Jan. 31. Any debris placed at the right-of-way after this one pass has concluded will not be collected and business owners will be responsible for its disposal.

 As of Feb. 1, Calcasieu Parish’s debris contractor, Crowder Gulf, was 132 days into its pickup efforts to remove hurricane debris from the 1,200 miles of parish roads. Since Hurricane Laura, trucks have picked up approximately 6.5 million cubic yards of debris from roads in the parish’s unincorporated areas. Overall, including in municipalities, a total of 11.5 million cubic yards has been collected.

For all parish debris removal updates, please visit the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury’s Facebook page and CPPJ’s website, calcasieuparish.gov.

Residents with parish debris questions or those who want to report any missed debris pickups are asked to call the parish debris monitor, Tetratech, at 512-8430.Debris lines roadways in Southwest Louisiana on Aug. 31 following Hurricane Laura’s destructive path through the area

Rick Hickman