‘Not too much of the Panhandle is built to handle this much water’: Trash services impacted in Claude

CLAUDE, Texas (KFDA) - The Panhandle is taking the good with the bad, with the much needed, but overwhelming rain.

Many ways of life have been impacted, including trash services.

The City of Claude says it’s had to halt residential track collections.

“Not too much of the Panhandle is built to handle this much water at anytime, so this is a problem that we’re facing here in Claude, it’s a problem that a lot of our other small towns are facing, as well as Amarillo,” said Howard Heath, city administrator for Claude.

The City of Claude says up to eight inches of rain has fallen with this recent weather event. causing its alleyways to become muddy.

“They may look dry, but they’re still pretty wet right now and so that creates an issue when we’re trying to get trash trucks up and down those alleys to do our weekly and sometimes biweekly trash pickups,” said Heath.

While collections aren’t being done, residents can drop off their trash at a roll off container on Parks Street, in between the fire department building and the city public works office.

“Residents can still bring their trash there, instead of overflowing the dumpsters, putting things out beside dumpsters, which creates more issues moving forward once we do get dry enough to come in,” said Heath.

He says not only are the alleyways too muddy for a trash truck, but the landfill in Amarillo was limited for dumping.

“If they are shut down because of rain, water conditions, inside of Amarillo, that really affects what happens to us too, so that can add some extra delays in there, because again, this is not just a Claude issue, this is pretty much a Panhandle wide issue,” said Heath.

The City of Amarillo says its landfill has now returned to normal operations.

“Due to the massive amounts of rain Amarillo has received on an almost daily basis which resulted in citywide flooding, the city landfill was limited as far as access and dumping capacity. This did not impact trash service. Access to the landfill during heavy rain and flooding is a safety issue. Landfill access has improved, and the landfill is operational and at normal dumping capacity.”

As far as residential trash services for Claude, the city says it will reevaluate on Thursday to see if a pick up can be done, it all depends if there is more rain.

If you live in Claude and have any questions you are asked to call (806) 337-0388.

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