PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Homeowners are in a race to dump what could become disastrous—debris from Helene as Milton makes its way to Florida.
Since Helene hit, the ABC Action News I-Team questioned by Pinellas County had so few locations for commercial haulers hired by homeowners to dump storm debris.
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On Saturday, Governor Ron DeSantis issued an executive order to make all landfills in counties impacted by Helene open to storm debris.
“This was something we recognized as a danger that could exacerbate the impacts of the storm," Governor Ron DeSantis said of all of the storm debris still living Tampa Bay area curbs.
But Monday, the I-Team learned Pinellas County kept portions of its county dump locked up.
In a news conference Monday morning, DeSantis said this when talking about Pinellas County:
“When we did the executive order, we said 24/7 debris pickup and being able to have these landfills be open. We did the executive order on Saturday and what happened over the night? It was closed. So what did we do? We cut the locks and we let people bring the debris. Overnight yesterday, what did we have? We had hundreds of cars, not just state vehicles, not just private contractors, we had private citizens loading up their F250s with debris to bring it — that’s helping, that’s a public service for them to do that and the gate was closed and there was no one manning it. So we opened it."
DeSantis said they need all hands on deck and that the state has helped to make a huge dent in the debris. But there's still more work to do.
"No bureaucracy, no more red tape, no more excuses about this debris," DeSantis said.
Last week, Pinellas County leaders repeatedly told the I-Team its dump could not handle all of the storm debris — and they could not verify where the debris was coming from, before they shut down the site to storm debris on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
“The challenge has been as been that commercial haulers have been showing up at these locations with multiple households full of stuff and we can’t document where it came from," Pinellas County Public Works Director Kelli Hammer Levy said on Thursday.
That documentation is required by FEMA for the county to be reimbursed.
The I-Team asked county leaders why gates were locked at the county dump after DeSantis' executive order over the weekend.
“When the emergency orders were enacted, including Pinellas County, the state, through that executive order, took over the landfill facility and started commandeering it. And so they have been making use of it for the appropriate storm debris removal processes from the state," a spokesperson said at a Pinellas County news conference on Monday. "Our understanding is that overnight at the facility, they needed access to a second gate to be able to allow for additional debris to be transported and so they broke that gate to get in, and to be able to allow additional debris to be brought onto the facility.”
Closures and confusion about where and when to bring storm debris have cost homeowners time as Milton closes in.
Members of the National Guard have also been brought in to help with storm debris removal.
This story started with a tip. If you have something you'd like the I-Team to investigate, contact Kylie:
ABC Action News Meteorologist Denis Phillips discusses Hurricane Milton and how it will impact the Tampa Bay area.
