South Florida Communities Still Struggling With Hurricane Irma Debris

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – It's estimated Hurricane Irma left 100 million cubic yards of debris when it blew through Florida on September 10.

That's left communities struggling to deal with removing tons of tree limbs, leaves and shrubs.

On her Plantation street, Laura Shellswick sees a road full of debris.

"I can't fault the municipalities. It's the contractors," she said.

Some hauling contractors are taking better payment offers and leaving some cities high and dry.

That bothers Ron Bergeron, who runs a solid waste company and contracts with several South Florida communities to dispose of the storm debris.

"It's my opinion cities should not be bidding against each other. We should have a regional plan to attract America," he said.

Some of what's been hauled from neighborhoods is being stored in vacant parcels or at landfills.

In hard hit Coral Gables, trucks are finally making their way through neighborhoods.

But cities say there is still a glaring problem that's also affecting pickup: people who do not separate their tree limbs from other trash. That means your house will be overlooked.

Bergeron says when it comes to getting rid of this monstrous amount of debris people need patience.

"We had 48 counties implement a state of emergency. There's 100 million cubic yards of debris. It's never happened in the history of Florida," he said.