NATCHEZ, Miss. – City trash collectors will haul away Natchez residents’ tree debris left from this week’s ice storm if cut up and left on street curbsides.
“Be patient,” said Natchez Alderman Sarah Carter Smith as city officials Tuesday discussed the arduous recovery and cleanup efforts underway since the winter blast hit Natchez on Sunday.
To be picked up, limbs must be no more than six feet in length and be less than eight inches in diameter, according to the limits set by Meridian Waste, the city’s contracted trash collector. Piled-up limbs are limited to eight cubic yards per residence for Meridian’s grapple truck to haul off.
Collecting large amounts of yard waste is part of the routine curbside trash-pickup services Meridian provides Natchez. Such bulky landscape debris is normally removed every two weeks for the Natchez households Meridian serves on a scheduled basis.
Natchez residents with questions about trash services can call Meridian Waste at 1-866-440-3983. It does not serve those outside the city in Adams County, which has another contracted waste collector.
Mayor Dan Gibson said the city could be reimbursed by the federal government for storm cleanup costs if Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issued the high-level disaster declaration needed to make impacted areas eligible for such federal funds.
The mayor and Natchez aldermen praised the first-responders who’ve worked long hours in icy, frigid weather since Sunday. They include crews from the city public works, police and fire departments along with utility companies.
While broken trees and limbs caused power outages throughout Natchez and Adams County beginning Sunday, nearly all of the 11,300 customers served by Entergy now have their electricity back.
“In less than two-and-a-half days, they’ve gotten almost everybody restored. That’s unheard of,” Gibson said Tuesday.
However, that’s not the situation for rural Adams County residents served by Southwest Mississippi Electric Power Association. As of Wednesday afternoon, about 500 of its customers were still without electricity, according to PowerOutage.com. That’s about 9 percent of the 5,500 Southwest Mississippi EPA customers in Adams County.
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