WEBVTT 00:00.009 --> 00:02.176 Hey y'all , it's Colonel Brad Morgan , 00:02.176 --> 00:04.009 uh , commander of the Wilmington 00:04.009 --> 00:06.009 District US Army Corps of Engineers 00:06.009 --> 00:05.519 coming to you here from , uh , one of 00:05.519 --> 00:07.800 our temporary management sites , uh , 00:07.840 --> 00:10.173 in Buncombe County here at Old Landfill . 00:10.173 --> 00:12.173 Lots of progress , lots of activity 00:12.173 --> 00:14.199 over the last 23 , 24 days as we 00:14.199 --> 00:16.255 started the month of February . Uh , 00:16.255 --> 00:18.421 February 1st was the first day we were 00:18.421 --> 00:20.532 able to get , uh , into the waterways 00:20.532 --> 00:22.588 to start doing our waterway debris . 00:22.588 --> 00:24.310 Removal , uh , which is pretty 00:24.310 --> 00:26.366 substantial just over the last three 00:26.366 --> 00:28.255 weeks , uh , we've collected over 00:28.255 --> 00:30.310 300,000 cubic yards , uh , just this 00:30.310 --> 00:32.477 last weekend alone we collected 80,000 00:32.477 --> 00:35.020 cubic yards of debris from the waterway , 00:35.279 --> 00:37.612 uh , here within Western North Carolina . 00:37.612 --> 00:39.668 That's in in Polk County . That's in 00:39.668 --> 00:41.501 McDowell County , that's here in 00:41.501 --> 00:43.557 Bunkcom County , uh , in the city of 00:43.557 --> 00:45.668 Asheville . Also in the town of uh of 00:45.668 --> 00:47.668 Chimney Rock , uh , so lots of good 00:47.668 --> 00:49.946 work , uh , that's been put forth , uh , 00:49.946 --> 00:52.168 lots of action and activity from a lots 00:52.168 --> 00:53.890 of new and different pieces of 00:53.890 --> 00:56.112 equipment . Uh , you may see us in some 00:56.112 --> 00:58.057 of the waterways off of I-40 or if 00:58.057 --> 01:00.168 you're in downtown , uh , Asheville . 01:00.168 --> 01:02.390 Uh , we've done a lot of work in Azalea 01:02.390 --> 01:04.501 Park . Uh , we're still continuing to 01:04.501 --> 01:06.612 do a lot of work within the Swannanoa 01:06.612 --> 01:08.835 community there , uh , right off of old 01:08.835 --> 01:11.057 Highway 70 and Highway 70 . We continue 01:11.057 --> 01:13.335 to get additional requests for support , 01:13.335 --> 01:15.390 uh , so we're working on getting our 01:15.390 --> 01:17.723 contractors mobilized and underway , um . 01:18.760 --> 01:20.982 In a few additional counties to include 01:20.982 --> 01:23.470 Ash Ashe County , Allegheny County , 01:23.589 --> 01:25.867 Alexander County , the , the three A's , 01:25.867 --> 01:27.700 if you will , uh , we're getting 01:27.700 --> 01:29.589 started there . We've got a small 01:29.589 --> 01:31.533 project there within the county of 01:31.533 --> 01:33.756 Madison support , uh , the French Broad 01:33.756 --> 01:33.449 Electric there to do some waterway 01:33.449 --> 01:35.671 debris removal , uh , out of the French 01:35.671 --> 01:38.599 Broad River just . Additional locations 01:38.599 --> 01:40.739 coming online as I said uh we're 01:40.739 --> 01:42.961 continuing to scope additional missions 01:42.961 --> 01:45.183 uh for waterway debris removal within , 01:45.183 --> 01:47.128 uh , Mitchell County , uh , within 01:47.128 --> 01:49.350 Wilkes County and we're also looking in 01:49.350 --> 01:51.572 Macon County and Transylvania , uh , so 01:51.572 --> 01:53.739 what we're doing is . We're setting up 01:53.739 --> 01:55.795 these temporary offload sites . Uh , 01:55.795 --> 01:57.795 we'll put down timber matting there 01:57.795 --> 01:59.961 along the side of the road or wherever 01:59.961 --> 02:02.183 we can gain access . and we'll also put 02:02.183 --> 02:04.406 timber matting down for our our ingress 02:04.406 --> 02:06.517 and egress points , uh , where you'll 02:06.517 --> 02:08.572 see pieces of equipment entering and 02:08.572 --> 02:10.795 exiting the water , and that's meant to 02:10.795 --> 02:12.906 help , you know , protect the banks . 02:12.906 --> 02:15.128 Obviously we're doing a thorough review 02:15.128 --> 02:16.739 with uh historical and . And 02:16.739 --> 02:18.906 environmental pering to make sure that 02:18.906 --> 02:18.399 we're not going to set up one of these 02:18.399 --> 02:20.589 sites in any type of culturally or 02:20.589 --> 02:22.367 historically or environmentally 02:22.367 --> 02:24.478 sensitive areas along our rivers here 02:24.478 --> 02:26.645 within western North Carolina and then 02:26.645 --> 02:28.589 they'll go in and they'll start to 02:28.589 --> 02:30.645 remove uh a lot of the debris that's 02:30.645 --> 02:32.533 was generated by the . Storm . So 02:32.533 --> 02:34.700 whether it was in kind of the banks of 02:34.700 --> 02:36.867 of the waterway itself or even some of 02:36.867 --> 02:39.089 uh the debris that's washed up onto the 02:39.089 --> 02:41.311 flood plain , we've been tasked by FEMA 02:41.311 --> 02:43.533 to get as much of that debris as we can 02:43.533 --> 02:45.645 while we're in these waterways , uh , 02:45.645 --> 02:47.645 so that's what we're doing . It's a 02:47.645 --> 02:49.922 pretty significant and monumental task , 02:49.922 --> 02:51.867 but I got a great team here that's 02:51.867 --> 02:53.756 working with the US Army Corps of 02:53.756 --> 02:56.089 Engineers in partnership with FEMA , uh , 02:56.089 --> 02:58.311 the state , as well as our local county 02:58.311 --> 03:00.367 applicants . So just excited for the 03:00.367 --> 03:02.533 progress that we've seen over the last 03:02.533 --> 03:04.533 3 weeks . I look forward to getting 03:04.533 --> 03:06.589 some more contracts in place and get 03:06.589 --> 03:06.649 some more waterway debris removed .