Tulsa Landscaping Company Volunteers Services For Debris Cleanup

The City of Tulsa is getting a helping hand with tree debris from the July storm.

Rickert's Landscaping and Tree Service is volunteering its time this weekend to help city crews pick up storm debris.

"I was able to buy some equipment from the storm, reinvest back into my business and thought I'd also give back to the community in some of the areas that have been blighted by not being picked up yet," Todd Rickert said.

They're working in some of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, picking up several piles of trees.

For this weekend's volunteer project, the city put out this dumpster so the crews could haul off debris to a central location.

The crew hauled off more than 500 cubic yards – that's more than 16 dumpsters full of storm debris.

"It took a couple weeks to get it organized," Rickert said. "The city didn't want to let us do it at first, and I had to put a little pressure on … to get through the right channels to allow us to actually donate."

Karen Dawson says she's happy to have the extra help.

"This is wonderful teamwork with Tulsa and a company that's willing to donate and volunteer," Dawson said. "And his crew is wonderful they are great."

The city has hauled off more than 84,000 cubic yards of debris. They've had 120 employees working six-day weeks since July 29, when a storm caused damage all over the city.

"We understood that is was a problem," Dawson said. "It was a massive storm and that it would be a while, but we were hoping that it would be sooner than later."

Dawson said she had Rickert's tree service come in right after the storm to pull up some trees that fell near her home.

"You know, the damage it takes a while to get your life back in order," she said. "Storms come through Oklahoma that's how we live."

Thanks to neighbors helping neighbors, she's ready to weather the next one.