Three-Weekend Push Of Volunteers Needed For Highway 70

Volunteers will be needed the next three weekends to help transition the Highway 70 cleanup.

“We’re leaving the cleanup phase and entering the recovery phase,” Putnam County EMA Director of Volunteers Kevin Tucker said.

FEMA trucks have been working over the last several days staging large pieces of debris. That debris will continue to be moved to the landfill. As debris has been removed from one area, Tucker said more debris has been found. That will be the focus on weekend one.

“You almost have to think of it as waves,” Tucker said. “The first wave, to some degree, has been collected. So, we’re going to work on the second wave.”

The weekend of March 28 & 29, the teams will begin working to help individual homeowners. With grass beginning to grow, Tucker said teams want to make sure hidden debris does not cause more injuries.

“We don’t need any projectiles flowing from lawn mowers injuring someone,” Tucker said.

The last group-focused weekend will be April 4 and 5. The “Clean Sweep” will be chance for detailed cleanups of homes still standing and special projects needed in the affected areas. Special projects have been requested through the Putnam County Volunteer Organization.

More than four thousand volunteers have worked in the area as of Wednesday. Tucker said that adds up to more 32 thousand hours.

“If the volunteers had not participated, if the organizations that came in day one had not been in place, I don’t know how we would have accomplished anything,” Tucker said. “It’s amazing to see it in action.”

If you wish to volunteer over the next three weekends and you have not yet registered to do so, Tucker said you can simply visit the Putnam County Fairgrounds Womens Building between 8am-5pm Tuesday-Sunday. Volunteers will be staged from that location. If you have already volunteered and registered, you can simply let the EMA team you would like to volunteer. You do not have to re-register.

Tucker said volunteers can also help during the week. Even in the rain Tuesday, some 70 volunteers worked in the corridor.