BUXTON, N.C. — Debris still sat on the side of Old Lighthouse Road on Wednesday, but these piles are much smaller than the massive ones we saw right after the eight initial home collapses in Buxton between late September and early October. Two more home collapses over the last few weeks brought the total to 10.
"To me, it's just sad. I mean, it was a massive amount. It's in the water. We thought we were done two weeks ago," said Carroll Midgett Jr., owner of OBX Lawn and Tractor Service.
For Midgett, the work he and his family have been doing for the last few weeks cleaning up debris from collapsed homes in Buxton is about much more than a job.
"I know a lot of these people, personally," Midgett said.
Midgett and fellow family with Top Dollar Constructor are some of the local contractors hired by homeowners to get rid of debris from collapsed homes. There has been a massive cleanup effort that started the first week of October and has included Dare County, the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, volunteers and organizations.
"Hurricane Isabel in 2003 hit the Hatteras area. Hatteras was devastated. It was a lot of damage. It was big, but this, this is probably the biggest that I've seen in Buxton, and I've been out here since 2003," Midgett said.
The structures and memories of people's houses have been spread up and down Old Lighthouse Road since the first week of October. Due to the large amount of debris from the initial eight home collapses, which is now at 10 total, the county brought in a contractor to help take the debris away once private contractors, volunteers and groups placed it on the side of Old Lighthouse Road.
Midgett has been working for homeowners for weeks, including after our most recent home collapse on Saturday.
"Sunday was almost 20 tandem loads that we moved out and then yesterday was probably two. Hand picking and going up the streets, trying to clean the streets for the neighbors," said Midgett.
The county expects the contractor to have cleared all the debris from the side of Old Lighthouse Road by the end of Wednesday or Thursday.
In the Cape Hatteras National Seashore's separate efforts, a representative tells me that all large debris is off the beach and a total of 415 pickup truck loads of debris have been collected since their efforts began Oct. 3.
