Quincy Mayor Kyle Moore Says Cleanup After Monday’s Storm Will Take Time [Interview]

The City of Quincy has been hard at work clearing streets and coordinating cleanup efforts after a major thunderstorm damaged homes, businesses, and knocked out power for a large portion of the city on Monday evening. Mayor Kyle Moore spoke with Y101 on Tuesday afternoon to provide an update to residents.

Listen to the Y101 interview with Mayor Kyle Moore

Moore asks that the public be patient, as cleanup efforts on such a large scale will take some time, "It's going to take the greater part of the end of this week just to make sure that all the streets in the City of Quincy are passable. We did a city assessment ... there's quite a few that you can't pass, or you only have one lane available. So that's going to take a large chunk of our efforts. It's going to be some time, especially with debris cleanup where people are putting their debris on the right-of-way. It's going to take us a considerable amount of time to get to that, but rest assured, once the streets are passable, then we'll get to an overall cleanup."

Snow routes are the first streets that will be cleared, according to Moore, "You'll see the major thoroughfares done first, and then we'll get to some of these side streets. I know it can be frustrating if you live in a subdivision and maybe there's only six houses at the end of your cul-de-sac and you have a tree down, I know it can be frustrating, but first and foremost we have to make sure the major thoroughfares are cleared and that the streets are passable for our first responders."

The mayor said that he was pleased to see the cooperation between city residents and emergency responders immediately following the storm, "We asked the citizens to stay off the roads as much as possible, to not call 911 unless it was a life safety issue, and for the most part people obliged us in that request, and really, when you look at it, we had a pretty successful night. "

The mayor reminds the public that they should dispose of any food that has been inside of refrigerators or freezers that have been without power, and not take a chance on eating it. "We've set up collection sites at the Quincy Mall north parking lot, at Q Stadium at their parking lot, John Wood Community College, the Quincy Park District headquarters, and we originally had said Quincy Notre Dame parking lot, but there are a lot of live wires around that, so we moved it recently to the Hy-Vee on Harrison." Yard waste debris is not being accepted at these sites.

During his interview on Tuesday, Moore also reminded the public to be cautious when hiring contractors to help with cleanup. "Be very careful with contractors who are offering to remove debris and cut down trees. We've offered for anybody to call our City Engineering Department and we can check to see if a contractor is IDOT certified, which just means that they have a certain level of insurance. Even if they aren't IDOT certified, no matter who you use, be sure that the contractor does the work before you write that check and pay them. You don't want to be taken for a ride. Be very vigilant, and make sure you family is, as well."