Perhaps you’ve wondered what the city of Elkhart’s doing with all the trees and branches knocked down by Tuesday’s tornado.
City of Elkhart spokeswoman Corinne Straight says as of Thursday morning, the city’s first two days of cleanup filled 39 trucks with tree debris from the southside neighborhood where the tornado hit. Streets and sidewalks are now clear but the city doesn’t yet have a good feel for how much remains in people’s yards.
"What we're finding is that during the day when crews are going out and clearing brush, it looks like we got we kind of maybe got most of it, and then the next morning we come in and all the piles are back because residents are coming home from work in the evening and clearing more trees and making more piles," Straight said.
The city has landfilled the trees and brush so far but Straight says it didn’t want to keep paying landfill tipping fees for whatever debris is left.
So the city Friday announced it’s won a 60-day permit from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to start burning the tree parts. They plan to do it in a big pile at the city’s storage site for tree debris on Toledo Road.
The burn will go from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily until it’s gone. There will be no burning if winds are too high, on an Air Quality Action Day, or if a burn ban is in place.
