If the trucks aren’t coming to deliver much needed supplies to flood-stricken Louisiana, they’re coming to haul away tons and tons of debris, mostly from the 40,000 or so homes hit by historic flooding.
Trucks equipped with claw lifts keep pouring into cities like Denham Springs where 75 percent of the homes there were flooded, according to pri.org.
Trucks are frequently seen carrying two bins that can hold up to 15 tons of waste. Once they make the drive to landfills, they line up behind other trucks waiting to dump flood damaged furniture, carpet, drywall and endless personal items.
Relentless rain dumped more than two feet of water in southeast Louisiana. Trucks from at least six states have been called in to help haul away the wreckage from scores of homes, many of which have never flooded before and were not even considered to be in a flood zone.
“I had just finished up work on the flood in Houston when I got a call to come here,” Glenn Tucker, a truck owner, told pri.org. “There’s a lot more on the way. … I have a friend who’s got nine trucks coming today from Texas.”
The trucks keep coming to the Bayou State to help rebuild what’s been lost. Wal-Mart trucks were among the first, as they were after Hurricane Katrina, to haul in much needed supplies. Wal-Mart has about 30 locations effected by the flooding, according to nola.com.
UPS meteorologists, like those at Wal-Mart, were able to anticipate the rising flood waters ahead of time and re-routed their trucks accordingly. All of the package giant’s distribution centers in the state were able to stay open.
Trucks have continued to make deliveries, including priority items, like prescription drugs. When a package becomes undeliverable because of the flooding, UPS tracks the item and stores it for customer pickup.
Trucks are also coming to haul away vehicles that were flooded. Many flood victims describe how, unlike Hurricane Katrina, they had little to no warning about the rising water. There was simply not enough time or resources for many of the victims to get possessions to higher ground.
