ALAMANCE COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Alamance County is one of the hard-hit areas from Tropical Storm Chantal and is still dealing with the damage and a big cleanup job.
A nonprofit is now asking for help from the public to track and remove debris from the Haw River.
A Chatham County-based nonprofit is now enlisting the public’s help to find and remove storm debris in areas around the Haw River, like in Saxapahaw.
They’ve launched a “Post-Chantal Debris Tracking” website, which is a tool where people can report where storm-related trash and hazards are.
“It’s a lot of work, but we also rely on community members to tell us when something is wrong,” said Emily Sutton, Haw Riverkeeper and Haw River Assembly executive director.
The Haw River stretches about 110 miles. The watershed runs through eight counties, including Alamance County.
Tropical Storm Chantal’s impacts are still visible over a month later.
“There’s a lot of communities in the Saxapahaw area … Haw River that were really just decimated, but what we’re seeing right now in the Haw River is there’s still a lot of debris that is piled up,” Sutton said.
In the river, the debris left behind ranges from tree logs to pieces of homes.
“What I’m worried about is the actual trash, like the pieces of people’s homes. I was at a creek earlier today that had a full dumpster in it,” Sutton said.
Haw River Assembly’s new online tracker lets anyone fill out a form to report where debris is. The Haw River Assembly said the goal is to get these areas cleaned up faster and safely.
Sutton said the cleanup effort will take many hands and also rely on volunteers.
“That’s why we create these public-facing tools like debris trackers because we need the public’s help to have eyes on the watershed and to know where all of these problems are. We can’t do it alone,” Sutton said.
With the tracker tool, private property locations will remain confidential, but public areas with safety risks will be shared.
Haw River Assembly will be tracking and prioritizing the debris sites through the end of 2025.
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