Sikeston’s mayor updates residents on tornado clean up

SIKESTON, Mo. (KBSI) – Sikeston’s mayor updated residents on the recovery process after the EF3 tornado that hit Sikeston on May 26.

Sikeston Mayor Greg Turnbow spoke at the Sikeston Regional Chamber Thursday afternoon.

Some of the highlights were:

• Curbside debris pickup. City contractors finished the last of their curbside debris pickups last week. City crews are still picking up some curbside debris outside of the contracted areas.
• The city is likely to contract for one more round of curbside pickup with a drop-dead date after which no more curbside items will be picked up. Details will be announced at a future date.
• There are still some piles of mixed debris that residents will need to separate (into woody debris vs construction debris vs asphalt shingles) before it can be picked up.
• There are still some piles of debris that were brought to the curb after the deadline for the first round of contracted pickup that will have to wait for the next round of pickup.

Yard Waste Disposal Site (Compost Site) operations:

• The compost site is closed this week and weekend as city crews clean up and organize after the completion of the contracted curbside pickup. New compost site hours and days will be announced next week.

FEMA Disaster declaration:

• SEMA and FEMA teams were in Sikeston several weeks ago assessing damage.
• All the paperwork has been submitted from SEMA and FEMA regional offices to Washington.
• City leaders are waiting on the FEMA in Washington to make a declaration.
• The hope to get a declaration that includes both Public Assistance (to the city) and Individual Assistance (directly to residents).
• Declarations from April events in New Hampshire and Kansas were made last week, so the late May event could still be in the queue.

Ongoing assessment of needs and next steps:

• The city has released a survey on Facebook for residents to fill out to help us assess what needs still exist.
• The Street Division is assessing what piles of debris still need to be picked up curbside.
• The City Manager’s Office is conducting a street-by-street assessment of where damaged homes and debris on private property still exist.
• All this information will help us determine what the city’s next steps are, which will also depend on whether we get a disaster declaration or not.

Between residents, volunteers, city employees, and city contractors there have been 1,814 truck loads, 3,159 trailer loads and 47,809 cubic yards of debris taken to the Yard Waste Disposal Site (Compost Site).

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