Dresden, Tenn.–Great progress was made on Saturday and Sunday in removing tornado debris and trees from the streets of Dresden but much work still remains, according to Dresden Mayor Jeff Washburn.
“We still have downed Frontier Communications telephone lines obstructing streets and hindering our cleanup efforts. I am directing Frontier that their lines must be removed by the end of Monday as the company was put on notice Sunday of the necessity to repair the poles to elevate the lines or remove them. Thus far Frontier has been missing in action as far as replacing broken poles and removing lines obstructing the streets of our city,” Washburn said.
The city has been privileged to have a tremendous turnout of volunteers to assist in the removal of debris and join in the recovery work, he said.
Beginning today (Monday 12/13), the city is directing volunteers desiring to work on debris removal and recovery efforts first check in at a Disaster Relief Station located at the Family Life Center of Dresden First Baptist Church on Morrow Street to be assigned to a team that will be working in assigned areas of the city.
The recovery effort has been tremendous thus far and they welcome volunteers to continue to be part of this unified effort to build back Dresden Strong.
There is a warming station that is open 24 hours a day currently open at the Adult Learning Center on Highway 22.
There are a number of organizations preparing food to distribute to displaced families and volunteers. “We appreciate their kindness and generosity,” Washburn said.
“We are asking property owners to place tree and building debris at the edge of streets. We are further asking that building material be separated from tree debris as the two types of debris will be picked up separately. The city is also obtaining a number of dumpsters for citizens to place building or construction debris along with household waste such as refrigerator and freezer contents, which will be disposed of in a landfill. When delivered, two of those dumpsters will be located on the parking lot behind city hall two will be located at the Dresden Farmers Market, and one in the vicinity of Jerry’s 66 on Pikeview Street,” he said.
Families with extended power outages resulting in thawed food should consider disposing of the food sooner rather than later.
Photo: Destroyed Methodist Church on left and damaged bank on the right in downtown Dresden. Photo by Bobby Goode.