Debris cleanup taking a while in Tampa due to lack of trucks

"They just got a lot of weight to them,” said Joe Frisco of Wellswood.
 
Joe Frisco has been cleaning up his yard for a week. 
 
"Oak trees once the ground is saturated, they can't hold their own weight up,” he said. 
 
Mature oak trees line his street in Wellswood and pretty much every house is waiting for debris trucks.  
 
"Naturally, the neighborhood will look nicer when they're all picked up,” said Frisco.
 
Tampa's hardest hit neighborhoods including Wellswood will see what's called "knuckleboom" trucks first. 
 
East Tampa and New Tampa are also on the priority list.
 
Bayshore Beautiful's road construction project means it's another neighborhood getting first dibs on debris pickup. 
 
"I've been told by the contractors that there's not enough of those kind of trucks in the United States of America to pick up Florida the way it needs to be picked up so we're doing the best we can,” said Brad Baird, Tampa Public Works Administrator.
 
This type of truck which uses a huge claw to grab tree limbs are in high demand according to Baird.
 
They only have 10 on the road right now. 30 more expected to flow into Tampa from up north tomorrow. 
 
"People can make it easier by not bagging the debris, by just piling it up. Don't put it in containers, trash cans. Don't need to bundle it,” explained Baird.
 
The debris pickups will take two weeks an estimated 10 thousand truck trips to get it cleaned up.
 
Contractors and city workers are working sun up to sun down so if your yard waste is still sitting at your curb it could be a while. 
 
"Could have been a lot worse. It's all good,” said Frisco.