SPARTANBURG — It will take months for some upstate cities and towns to finish removing trees and branches from sidewalks in residential neighborhoods following Helene.

Most cities cannot quickly remove the amount of debris left by the storm and must hire contractors through the SC Department of Transportation to help. In most cases, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will reimburse a large portion of the costs associated with debris removal.

More than 7,200 tons of debris have already been removed from Spartanburg.

“What we’re doing right now is going around town and making multiple passes to pick up all of this debris,” said Christopher George, a spokesman for the city of Spartanburg. “We have city crews and contractors moving around the city. The lingering effect is that we now have blocked sidewalks and narrow streets covered in debris.

“We have essentially resumed normal operations, but we are finding that it is difficult to travel on some streets in the area due to debris waiting to be collected.”

City crews worked Oct. 28 to remove debris from Wofford and Breeze streets. George said it will likely take about 90 days before all the debris from the storm is gone. The total cost of removing the debris has not yet been determined.

Cherokee and Union counties are also working to clear out what’s left of the storm.

“We have our own debris removal equipment, but this event was so catastrophic that we contracted with SCDOT contractors to remove everything from city streets,” said City Administrator Gaffney, James Taylor. “I think we’re getting close to removing 50 percent of the storm debris brought to the curb at this point.”

Taylor said some city sidewalks were damaged by tree roots torn up by the storm. There was no significant damage to the town’s buildings when Helene struck on September 27.

Union County expects all debris from the storm to be removed within a few months.

“We began debris removal with a local contractor and our street division from the day of the event until the following Tuesday,” Union City Administrator Joe Nichols said. “We have since signed a memorandum of understanding with SCDOT to have their contractor remove debris throughout the city and Union County. There is still a lot to remove because we have a lot of downed trees.”

Spartanburg County plans to remove all of its storm debris by 2025 and is working with DRC emergency services to complete the process.

The county began removing debris on Oct. 7 and more than 30 trucks are now working throughout the county.

“No community is being left behind or prioritized as this storm was historically widespread and truly impacted every corner of Spartanburg County,” said Spartanburg County spokesperson Scottie Kay Blackwell.

At last week’s council meeting, Spartanburg County Executive Cole Alverson said cleaning up the debris could cost more than $10 million.

The process actually requires two contractors: one who removes 5,000 cubic yards of debris daily and another who determines the amount of debris scattered around the county and tracks the removal in order to give Spartanburg County its best chance of being reimbursed .

FEMA will cover all cleanup costs for the first 90 days. Beyond that, Alverson cautioned that FEMA only reimburses 75 percent of cleanup costs. The state often pays the full 25 percent, but only guarantees half of it. It is also possible that some response costs will be deemed non-refundable.

Nonetheless, Alverson said the county is in a strong position to absorb cleanup and response costs that are not paid by FEMA or the state.

Spartanburg County residents are asked to place all plant and woody debris on the sidewalk or edge of their property within 10 feet of the road and away from mailboxes, fire hydrants, utilities and standing trees. There is no limit to the size or weight of debris.