Debris Management Solution

In 2020, an early ice storm left central Oklahoma with piles of fallen tree limbs and debris. The City of Del City contacted Meshek’s GIS team to create a solution to improve the efficiency of the debris removal process. We deployed the tools of what is now Esri’s Emergency Debris Management Solution, which greatly aided the process.

This Solution let the City complete the initial storm damage assessment in only 16 hours.  This included 7,214 debris piles recorded, categorized, and photographed.  Only three employees and a single vehicle were needed to complete the assessment, using QuickCapture.  Cataloging the debris piles in this way allowed the City to better scope and task the necessary cleanup efforts.  Collected data provided accurate information for contractor cost estimates.

The Hub site provided key information for residents and business owners to ensure storm debris was positioned properly for efficient removal efforts, and to better understand the cleanup effort overall.

During the debris collection phase, the City staff traveled with each debris collection crew, using Survey123 to collection information including the vehicles used, the crew members, the type of debris collected, the method of disposal, and the total weight removed per truck load. This weight information, including attached dump tickets from the final dump site, provided accurate and critical data collection for FEMA reimbursement requests. This allowed Del City to be reimbursed a far more rapid manner than the typical non-Solution process.

Operations Dashboards let City staff and the public monitor overall progress of the debris removal process. City staff were able to monitor the number of debris piles needing to be removed from the initial assessment, the cleanup process, and even those piles (using photographs from the field crews) of piles ineligible for pickup.