HOUSTON -- Nearly three weeks after Hurricane Ike, crews are still working hard to get Houston back to normal. Mayor Bill White said a lot of progress has been made, but more is needed, KPRC Local 2 reported Wednesday.

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Three Weeks After Ike, Houston Still Cleans Up: Ryan Korsgard Reports

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White said the entire community faces two big problems -- fixing traffic lights and cleaning up debris.

"We know that our job is not finished within the city of Houston," he said. "We will have an estimated 5 million cubic yards of extra debris that will be removed. What does that mean? If you took this stuff and you piled it up in football fields, 6 feet high, it would be at least 390 football fields and counting."

The city estimates that it is about 36 percent of the way through the pick up and expects to have completed a first pass through every neighborhood, soon.

"We have been slow in some areas because of the power line situation that we have with CenterPoint Energy. But we have certainly been making up a lot of ground with that," said Harry Hayes, the director of Solid Waste Management.

City officials also said there has been progress with signal lights.

Overall, there are more than 2,400 intersections with traffic lights. Nearly 1,900 have signals that are fully functional. Less than 10 percent have broken signals or no power.

"With the 500 to go, we think that by Monday's rush hour, Monday morning's rush hour, we'll have substantially all of the signals up and operational," said Mike Marcotte, the director of Public Works.

FEMA said Houston set an all-time record for debris removal in a single day.

The mayor said that removal rate is increasing each day. He said it will help if residents continue to separate wooden materials from the other trash.

More Information:

Storm Debris Collection Maps
City of Houston Web Site