Neighbors worry storm debris could clog drains ahead of ABC13 Weather Alert Day

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- More than two weeks after Beryl hit, many of us still have giant piles of tree limbs in our yards.

As we face more severe, wet weather, residents are worried that storm debris will clog ditches and drains.

"Overwhelmed. Honestly, overwhelmed," Pierre Puget, who lives in Independence Heights, said. "A lot of pick up should be done as soon as possible for us to be able to go farther with the work we have to do."

Since Hurricane Beryl hit, Houston crews have picked up about 150,000 tons of storm debris.

But, even with extra crews in place, clean-up is a slow process.

Areas like west Houston and places southeast of Houston, like Pearland and Friendswood, haven't been serviced at all yet.

"They haven't come about, so I don't know how long that's going to take," Magdiel Sandoval, another Independence Heights resident, said. "If the hurricane season is active like this, it's going to be terrible in the future. If it comes to shove that we get another one coming through and we still don't have this picked up, it's going to be chaos for some people."

Jesus Johnson has been working around the city and picking up heavy tree debris.

"They're taking two or three months to pick this up. Most of this is from the first storm. So, it's bad out here," Johnson said.

Ditches are already blocked, and heavy rain could move debris into the streets.

"We need these trucks now because we don't know what's going to happen. You can see with the neighbors," Puget said. "A lot of our sewers are also full of debris, so I think it's an emergency to empty the streets right now."

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