DES MOINES, Iowa — Six weeks after the derecho hit the state, the City of Des Moines is still left with ginormous piles of debris. Luckily for the city, the state is paying for all of the mulching and removal of it.
Des Moines Public Works says to grind the debris up and haul it away would have easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"The state has a contract with a company that is bringing in multiple grinders to work at cities and counties across the state," said Des Moines Public Works Director Jonathan Gano. "Because this was a disaster that affected a large swath of central and eastern Iowa."
According to Gano, if the state did not pay for cleanup, the city would have been forced to present the money upfront and it would have only been reimbursed at 85 percent.
The city continues to clean up debris especially in areas that were hard to access due to downed power lines.