ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — On Friday, 10 Tampa Bay took a behind-the-scenes look at the debris clean-up process with CrowderGulf, one of the area's largest debris-hauling contractors.
CrowderGulf Disaster Recovery & Debris Management is responsible for debris collection in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Oldsmar, Dunedin, Tarpon Springs and parts of Hillsborough County.
CrowderGulf Senior VP Reid Loper said the teams on the ground are working sunrise to sunset to clear debris throughout the region.
It has been no small task. Loper explained, "Here in St. Petersburg, the hurricane debris that has been collected from Hurricane Milton is more than the last three storms combined."
In the last 40 days, CrowderGulf said it has collected more than 1.2 million cubic yards of debris in St. Pete alone. That's enough to fill more than 360 Olympic swimming pools.
The company explained that "priority zones" are dictated by the cities they serve. For example, in St. Pete, we're told priority was given to areas hardest hit by the hurricanes.
Loper said, "But we do a full pass of the city and after we're complete with that we're going to come through and do a second pass and even a third pass."
We followed along with one hauler Friday, as they picked up in the Historic Kenwood neighborhood. Addressing several large piles of vegetative debris, it took 40 minutes to tackle just five properties. And that's all it took to fill up the giant haulers before it was time to head back to the debris sorting field.
Loper said, "It is taken to these debris management sites where it is then offloaded, processed, and ultimately hauled to final disposal locations."
CrowderGulf said with its 84 trucks, they're tackling more than 700 loads a day.
"It is a process, and we are going to get to every citizen. Everyone just needs to keep in mind that we're covering every road in the city and it is a monumental task," said Loper.
CrowderGulf said it expects to complete its first pass of St. Petersburg by Dec. 16.