Waco homeowners remain in cleanup mode a week after severe storms

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Nearly a week after a storm caused some damage in Waco, some residents are still cleaning up.

Residents are putting in hours of work themselves to recover.

71-year-old, Suzi Wiseman, lives in the Park Lake Drive neighborhood and said it may take a while until things are back to normal.

She said she could hire an outside company to pick up debris, but it could cost between $600-$800 because of high demand.

You’ll mainly see piles of bushes in people’s front yards and hear residents cutting up their branches left behind from last week’s storm when you go through the area.

“We’re just going to keep cutting for lord knows how long,” said Wiseman.

Wiseman said she, her husband and two friends have been sawing since Saturday.

“Between four of us, we’ve put in well over 100 hours so far,” said Wiseman.

She said the winds from the storm caused the weight from a fallen tree to knock a different tree onto her roof.

The Wisemans didn’t expect to see what they woke up to last Saturday morning.

“It’s made it sort of a bit despairing at first, just to have to catch our breaths and come out Saturday morning and see how bad it was,” said Wiseman.

Thus, she and her neighbors got to work immediately.

“Saturday morning, people all up and down this street were out sawing, cutting and making piles. A lot of piles behind their houses as well as in front. We would just love the city to come and help us,” said Wiseman.

Wiseman said she’s worried about what animals could call the debris home while they work to remove it.

“We’ve got dogs, we don’t want to attract snakes,” said Wiseman.

Until everything is cleaned, Wiseman said she’ll keep up the work and keep high hopes.

She said contractors are coming to fix the roof soon.

KWTX also reached out to the city of Waco about the possibility of additional brush pick up days and haven’t heard back.

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