St. Pete Standard

The City of St. Petersburg is actively addressing the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton by managing a significant amount of storm-related debris. The city has initiated a comprehensive clean-up operation involving city crews, disaster debris contractors, and monitoring companies. The aim is to complete the debris removal within 90 days.

Since the initial landfall of the storms, over 47,000 cubic yards of debris have been cleared. Currently, 67 city trucks and 61 contracted debris haulers are operating daily throughout St. Petersburg until the task is finished.

To aid in this effort, the city's Economic Development team launched the Hometown Recovery Haulers program to involve small businesses in debris removal. Within two weeks, these haulers have conducted more than 2,200 pickups in heavily affected areas.

“As we continue to recover from the impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, our top priority is getting St. Pete back to normal as quickly as possible," stated Mayor Kenneth T. Welch. "We understand the frustration of seeing storm debris still piled up, and while the process is difficult and time-consuming, our teams are working around-the-clock to remove it. The sheer volume of debris, combined with limited regional resources, has made this a challenging operation, but we are committed to completing the clean-up as swiftly and efficiently as possible. I want to thank our residents for their patience and resilience during this time.”

Key statistics include:

- Over 47,000 cubic yards of debris collected so far.

- An average of 1,000 loads per day delivered to the Temporary Debris Management Site at 1953 72nd St. N.

- A total of 2,200 loads picked up by Hometown Recovery Haulers.

For those opting not to wait for city collection services:

Residents can take vegetative or construction/demolition debris free of charge to the Temporary Debris Management Site at 1953 72nd St. N., provided they complete a Brush Site Consent Form available online.

Vegetative-only debris can be dropped off at one of five City Brush Sites; however, these sites currently only accept hand-offloads from residents.

In city parks:

Efforts are underway to clear parks for public use post-storms. Residents will see a mix of city crews and private haulers working on park clean-ups with updates on re-openings expected by Monday, Oct. 21.

Debris collection locations:

City contractors transport collected materials to Commerce Park's Debris Management Site for sorting based on type—vegetative material becomes mulch while construction waste undergoes compaction outside county limits.

Residents should place storm debris in separate piles without using trash bags for easier pickup assistance information available at www.stpete.org/recovery.