At War With Brush

HARLINGEN - Brush from Hurricane Dolly that's been piled along state highways in northern Cameron County may soon be cleaned up, but one county commissioner said it's long overdue.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Edna Tamayo said she has a promise from Texas Department of Transportation District Engineer Mario Jorge that a state contractor will begin collecting brush stacked up along highways in her precinct "in a matter of days."

Secondary state highways such as Farm-to-Market Road 508 north of Harlingen, Wilson Road (FM 2994) and Marshall Hutts Road (FM 2925) between Rio Hondo and Arroyo City have been lined with brush since property owners stacked it there after Dolly struck July 23, she said.

Some rural property owners have started burning the stacks of dry brush, which worries her, Tamayo said.

"I have really gotten afraid of what might happen," the commissioner said as some rural landowners began torching the piles of storm debris.

TxDOT Area Engineer Arnold Cortez at San Benito said a state contractor has been working steadily to remove brush. But rural residents have been adding to the piles and have also been throwing other Dolly debris, such as ruined furniture, carpeting and even sacks of household garbage, onto the piles, he said.

But Tamayo refuted that statement.

"It's from Dolly," she said of the brush piles that have faded in the hot sun. "It's old brush. You can look at it and see."

But a reporter observed furniture, fresh brush, construction debris and plastic garbage bags that had been heaped along FM 508 last week.

One place where progress has been made is along Highway 100 in Los Fresnos, where 15-foot high piles of brush remained in front of school buildings as city workers prepared for a possible landing by Hurricane Ike last month.

Those piles were eventually removed by the state contractor, a city worker said. City officials were told they "couldn't touch that brush," that it had to be done by the state contractor, the city employee said.

The cost of the state contractor is being reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he said. But after Oct. 17, any brush or debris along state highways must be removed by Cameron County's regular trash removal contractor, Allied Waste Services, Cortez said.

Although the deadline for FEMA reimbursement has already passed, the state contractor will continue to pick up everything, even non-storm debris such as furniture, garbage, junk appliances and old tires until Oct. 17, Cortez said.

He refused to comment on the issue of FEMA reimbursement to the state.