Beginning Monday, November 13, a contractor will be picking up storm debris left behind by Tropical Storm Irma from within the right of way along Forsyth County-maintained roads. The work will be performed by two contactors. Southern Disaster Recovery (SDR) will be picking up the debris while DebrisTech will be performing the requisite monitoring and inspection services.

Important things to note:

• Only woody, vegetative storm debris such as trees and limbs will be accepted.

• Debris will only be picked up from within the right of way along county-maintained roads.

• Debris will only be picked up from residential locations.

• Workers are not able to enter onto private property to pick up debris.

• Workers are not able to pick up debris from along state routes or city streets.

“This cleanup situation is unique in that we will be picking up debris that residents place within the right of way along county maintained roads,” said Deputy County Manager Tim Merritt. “The fact that Forsyth County is included in the presidential disaster declaration from Tropical Storm Irma is what is enabling us to make an exception to county policy in this instance. Citizens with woody storm debris on their property that they would like picked up will need to place that debris in the county right of way. Again, this is something that will only be done for this cleanup, due to the disaster declaration.”

During standard debris cleanup, the county is unable to pick up debris that has fallen onto private property and been moved onto county right of way.

When placing debris in the county right of way, please keep the following in mind:

• Please do not place debris in front of or around your driveway, as doing so could impede access by emergency vehicles.

• Please do not place debris on top of utilities such as cable and storm drain boxes or fire hydrants.

• Please do not place debris in front of or around your mailbox.

Citizens do not need to report their debris – the contractor will pick up debris from all county-maintained roads. The cleanup work is slated to begin in the northern part of the county (north of State Route 20) on November 13 and cleanup work is slated to begin approximately November 20 in the southern part of the county (south of State Route 20). The work will occur during daylight hours Monday through Saturday.

“Considering the size of Forsyth County, it will take a few weeks for this work to be completed,” said Forsyth County Emergency Management Agency Director and Fire Chief Danny Bowman. “We appreciate citizens’ patience while the contractor works to get to every part of the county.”

The contractor will only pick up woody, vegetative storm-related debris. Please do not place garbage, household trash or other non-woody, non-vegetative storm debris in the right of way, as it will not be picked up.

For questions regarding the storm debris removal, please call the Forsyth County Emergency Management Agency at (770) 205-5674.