The city says it is making great progress in the cleanup of tree debris from September’s snowfall but it will still take a couple of months to clear the piles from all the communities.

In the last 10 days, crews have cleaned 12M kilograms or 18,000 loads of debris from 77 communities, which represents about a third of the city.

The city says they have expanded their efforts to include all communities, not just the hardest hit, and that the good weather has allowed them to get ahead of schedule.

They hope to have the work completed by early November.

“That’s a huge amount of debris that we need to pick up. I think what’s different too is that a lot of the debris has to be prepped, needs to be cut into sizes, so it’s a lot of work to really get to that point where we can do all the debris but I think we may even be able to get there even before that time so I’m optimistic we’ll get there in short order,” said Nico Bernard, Tactical Operations Centre Manager, Parks.

The city is reminding citizens to stack tree debris at the edge of their properties so crews can pick it up when they pass through.

Those who miss the pickup can take debris to any city landfill or to one of the 33 drop off points that are spread around the city.

“We’re putting in a lot of resources getting the first detailed systematic pass through the communities so we ask citizens that they will take it to the landfill or take it to the drop off sites. The drop off sites will still be available until November 9th, so there’s still ample time for people to get debris to those sites if they miss our pass,” said Bernard.

The city says all parks are open with the exception of those that were damaged in the floods, but people are asked to be cautious and aware of any hazards.

“All major parks impacted by the storm have been reopened however we do remind citizens to be cautious around mature trees,” said Bernard.

Officials say some of the parks and green spaces will require different equipment so it may take a little longer to clean up.

The city says initial estimates indicate that it will cost over $8M to complete the cleanup which will allow them to access the DRP funding.

Click HERE for more information on the city's tree debris cleanup afforts.