Braithwaite, La. -
Another sign of recovery in Braithwaite -- crews are now cleaning up the storm debris and trash that's been cluttering roadways and front yards for weeks.
10 feet of water flooded Eugene White's Braithwaite home. Pretty much everything was destroyed, leaving behind a ton of trash and debris all over his yard.
For weeks, White worked to put all the debris into piles. This week, the parish began removing debris from resident's front yards, at least what they could access from the road.
"Every day it gets a little better. The more trash that gets picked up, the cleaner we get things, the better we'll be," White said.
While crews work to pick up trash from the roadways, one thing they haven't started doing is coming onto private property to pick up piles of debris that homeowners can't move to the road.
White explains, "To push that amount it would take me forever with the small equipment I got."
But at a meeting held Wednesday night with Parish President Billy Nungesser, residents were informed the parish is working to try and get crews together to go onto people's properties, with their permission, to assist them in cleaning up their debris.
Over in the Braithwaite Park subdivision, Russell Gelvin doesn't want anyone coming onto his property. That's because he's caught people stealing from him.
"I had someone go in my back house. I had an extensive bar, and they probably got about a case of liquor, some stuff that I won't ever be able to replace you know," Gelvin said.
Gelvin also claims his dishwasher, with dishes still inside, was stolen. He had just removed it from his kitchen.
Gelvin and many other residents are hoping all of the trash in Braithwaite is picked up sooner rather than later, not only to prevent thieves from making a quick buck but also to help them move forward with the recovery process.
While trash and debris pick-up is just under way now on the east bank of Plaquemines, the final sweep for trash pick-up on the west bank of the parish will take place Monday, September 24.
Crews pick up debris in Braithwaite
