West Columbia neighborhood rallies together to help woman haul debris
It has been 24 hours since crews restored power to every home in West Columbia. Clean up efforts began as soon as the storm hit Monday, but one woman still needed help yesterday removing two downed trees more than 100 feet tall out of her yard.
City crews help clear the tree that fell and blocked the road on Spring Valley, but left what remained in Lena Jones’ yard as her responsibility.
Neighbors and friends said after seeing Lena’s story on ABC 17, they decided to come help.
“Well, apparently, after your story, a bunch of people showed up within five minutes and started helping out across the street,” said Cassandra Rogers, a volunteer. “Then today, we just decided to come out and help as well.”
Lena told ABC 17 around 15 people helped out for hours Friday night and Saturday morning, cutting, hauling and cleaning out her yard. Some of those volunteers she had never met before.
Columbia Public Works will pick up tree limbs and other storm debris next Saturday. They urge people to cut down branches to at least five feet. To schedule a pick-up, you can call 573-441-5550anytime between now and Thursday, July 17, at 5:00 p.m.
Callers will be directed to a message where they’ll need to leave their first and last name, street address, ZIP code, and phone number.
