Burke County weighs Army Corps mission, private contractors for post-Hurricane debris removal

Burke County officials on Monday reviewed recovery work from Hurricane Helena and moved to request federal assistance for waterway and private-property debris removal after weighing costs, reimbursement rules and administrative burdens.

County Manager Brian Mann told the Board of Commissioners that Burke County has registered about 13,000 people in FEMA’s Individual Assistance program, with roughly 59% meeting eligibility; FEMA awards in the county total about $14.6 million for individual assistance and $4.2 million for housing assistance so far. Mann said 24 owner-occupied homes and 18 rental units were listed as completely destroyed in county housing-assistance statistics.

Mann said the county has collected more than 255,000 cubic yards of debris from public right-of-way removal, using three alternative debris sites at the Burke County Fairgrounds, the county solid-waste facility at Marsh Trail and East Fleming. He described efforts to reduce material to mulch and current storage at the FEMA-approved landfill, noting that a short-term burn trial was stopped due to wildfire risk in nearby McDowell County.

The core remaining decisions, Mann said, are how to handle waterway debris and private-property debris removal (PPDR). He described two options: (1) hire state-approved private contractors, which can mobilize faster and allow the county to prioritize areas but requires heavy local administrative oversight and…