Flood recovery efforts are underway in Fort Smith with the Streets and Sanitation departments starting to cleanup.

The Streets Department has already begun picking up sandbags, scraping and sweeping streets to “get rid of the mud and muck that’s in each and every neighborhood,” City Administrator Carl Geffken said.

Scraping will remove most of the mud from the streets and the street sweepers will remove any additional “grime” from the floodwaters, according to information from the city. This will ensure volunteers won’t have to deal with muddy streets as they go to help residents and business owners.

“It will take time, so please be patient,” Geffken said.

Sanitation is also beginning Thursday to pick up storm-related debris, which the department is asking to be spread into three piles.

The first pile can include wood, furniture, carpeting and drywall. Geffken said the city is requesting approval for these materials to be burned.

“We’ve already done that for the tornado, and we’ll be doing that again,” Geffken said. “It will save us space in the landfill.”

A second pile can include metal, appliances, items with refrigerant and other devices. Geffken said the department will dispose of the refrigerant properly and resell scrap metal.

Lastly, the streets department will pick up any used sandbags that have not been spread on residents’ properties. These cannot be reused.

“That’s the plan moving forward as we move to the recovery phase,” Geffken said.

The department heads were scheduled to meet Wednesday to plan “further details and further recovery measures.”

Just keep going

Several city directors thanked Fort Smith residents at the board meeting Tuesday for their unity and cooperation through the flooding.

Ward 2 Director Andre Good specifically thanked the junior high and high school students who have taken time out of their summer breaks to help those in need.

“We want to let the youth of the community know that you do matter, we do care about you and we need you,” Good said. “You guys are the leadership of the future generation.”

Settle also thanked the city’s department leadership and employees for their work handling both typical operations and flood-related work.

“(They) all came together to make the city better. ... Every department head should be proud of how we came together for the citizens,” Settle said.