FT - Houston Govt. Doesn't Expect Garbage Fleet To Finish First Debris Sweep Of City For Six Months

[hatrack]

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But the city does not want any refuse workers to take time off. Houston is littered with everything from fallen electricity poles to roofs ripped off by the storm. The city has been picking up in a day what it usually carts away in a month – and does not expect its 800 trucks to have done a first sweep through the entire Houston area for six months. Houston is the US’s fourth largest city and, at 596 square miles, is the biggest to have been hit so hard by a hurricane.

On September 13, hurricane Ike came ashore in Galveston Island with a 12-foot storm surge and winds of 110mph before rushing 50 miles inland to Houston, tearing off roofs, shattering windows and pulling up trees from their roots to crush cars and homes. Galveston remains uninhabitable after powerful waves swept in, carrying walls, stairs, furniture and roofs out into the sea. Police this week began letting residents inspect their property but forced them out before dark, warning of snakes and dangers from broken gas lines and insect infestations.

Fifty miles inland, Houston is still trying to restore power, which remains out for half a million people. Many traffic lights are also still out, and some hang precariously by wires over drivers fighting over the right of way. Debris, attracting cockroaches, snakes and rats, is piled four feet high in some neighbourhoods.

Children have been blocked from school playgrounds, which are criss-crossed with caution tape, and classrooms are damaged or without power. McDonald’s is limiting its $1 cheeseburger specials to four per customer as residents without the power or strength to cook try to get fast food. Starbucks, the coffee house chain, cannot make its new Vivano drinks as it has run out of bananas.

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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/33a26314-8db4-11dd-83d5-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1