Flood debris continues to pile up in western Harris County

HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – It is a scene that we're seeing all over the Houston-area: piles of debris lining the streets in many neighborhoods.

"This is home and you've lost everything," said Judy Martinez, a resident of the Villages of Bear Creek.

There isn't much you can say to the residents of the Villages of Bear Creek to take their minds off the mountains of debris in their neighborhood.

"To see it like this, it tears you up," said Martinez. "We were sitting in sewer water for days."

Harvey's waters are gone now but the trash sits in its place. Martinez is a member of the community's self-managed homeowners association.

Martinez, her colleagues and the other residents are asking for more help to come into the neighborhood and remove the debris, potentially harmful to their health.

"There's rats, there's snakes, there's mosquitos, there's ants, there's the stench," Martinez said. "It's not safe."

In a statement sent to Channel 2 News, Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 4 Jack Cagle said, "Because of the storm's enormity, recovery is going to take a while. It took us three weeks to do the first pass with our contractors during the Tax Day floods. This being exponentially larger, you can imagine how it's going to take us a while to do the first pass. It is our plan to do three passes through all neighborhoods."

Furthermore, Cagle's office said, these are other reasons to explain the debris removal process.

"We need help. Harris County is wonderful. They are doing the best they can to bring trucks in and get rid of this but this is the whole neighborhood and they can't do it by themselves," said Martinez.

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