BATON ROUGE - Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome announced Friday that she activated the City-Parish emergency debris monitoring and collection contractors in response to Hurricane Francine.

Residents who can safely do so are asked to place any storm-generated debris at their curb as soon as possible and that debris removal operations will begin next week. Storm debris collected for this event includes homeowner generated trees, tree stumps, tree branches, tree trunks and other leafy material.

Additionally, only loose debris will be collected by the emergency debris contractor, as bagged debris will be collected by the out-of-cart contractor and should not be placed within three feet of storm debris. The mayor's office also advises people to avoid stacking debris below low-hanging trees or lines. Storm debris should also not be placed within 3 feet of mailboxes, utility boxes or meters, fire hydrants, garbage carts, recycling carts or other out-of-cart items. Only debris placed curbside will be eligible for collection.

Residents of Baker, Central, and Zachary should contact their respective city agencies to determine debris collection schedules, as each of these cities manage separate debris removal contracts. Baton Rouge will be supplying these services to St. George.

City-Parish crews began assessing storm debris on September 12 and will continue to do so throughout the weekend. Debris removal crews will be dispatched throughout the parish based on those assessments.

If residents would like to report their storm debris piles, they are encouraged to do so by submitting a “Hurricane Francine Debris – September 2024” service request here. Residents can also dial 311.