Cleanup crews earn applause ... and snacks
City residents show gratitude to workers removing flood debris
Drinks, refreshments, even helping hands — all of it accompanied by plenty of thank yous — have been following the cleanup crews as they toil long days carting off the mountains of debris left behind from Windsor’s record flood.
Even two weeks after a massive storm flooded more than 6,100 Windsor homes, some residents are still showing their gratitude at the first sight of garbage trucks on their streets, rushing outside and lending some muscle to the workers disposing of their ruined possessions.
“Everybody’s been wonderful ... giving us water, granola bars — they’re just very grateful,” said Anita Salamone, a driver/loader with Toronto-based Miller Waste Systems.
“Some will go out and ask, ‘Can we help?’ In one area, residents came out and were clapping,” said city environmental services manager Anne Marie Albidone.
“People are coming out, helping us, it’s really nice,” said Kyle Marchand, part of a Miller Waste crew that was tackling South Walkerville.
His truck and crew mate from Cambridge are among four outof-town Miller garbage packers on Windsor’s streets this week.
From a 6:30 a.m. daily start, Marchand has been picking up Windsor flood trash for up to 13 hours a day since the beginning of last week.
His truck, which can hold about 10 tons of trash, is filled about three times a day, with some curbside piles so massive they take him and cremate Spencer Brown more than an hour to conquer.
For the second time this week during Question Period in the legislature, local opposition MPPs hammered the provincial Liberal government over its emergency response to Windsor’s latest flooding. MPP Percy Hatfield (NDP — Windsor-Tecumseh) called for the province to loosen up the eligibility guidelines over who can get provincial relief to help “recover from that disaster.” Municipal Affairs Minister Bill Mauro responded by repeating what he said in Windsor Tuesday, namely that “(private) insurance is broadly and readily available for sewage backup in these instances.” Mayor Drew Dilkens has said he believes there are thousands of local households who can’t get such insurance. In September 2016, 2,740 Windsor homes were flooded. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs, in an email to the Windsor Star, said the province received 583 applications for disaster assistance from this area in the months following that storm. Almost $680,000 was paid to 125 claimants. Of the rest, 246 claims were deemed ineligible and 212 claims are “still under review” as of Tuesday.