DENRs Division of Waste Management, which deals with solid wastes and hazardous wastes, is involved in Hurricane Floyd recovery efforts.
Solid Waste
Staff has reviewed and approved staging sites for debris disposal. Of 36 counties covered, actions to handle debris are reported in:
Bertie more dead livestock and poultry reaching landfill than expected
Bladen establishing temporary burn site on NC 53 near Elizabethtown
Columbus will handle green waste at convenience centers and take to county landfill
Craven Solid Waste Association of North America volunteered to provide trucks to take leachate from landfill
Duplin drier wood waste being sought, after green wood failed to completely burn hog carcasses
Edgecombe Unable to get employees to landfill sites, convenience center collection points. Waste Industries, Inc. helping. Portable toilet shortage resolved.
Onslow -- Have hauled more than 300,000 gallons of leachate from landfill.
Pasquotank, Camden, Gates Region landfills are OK
Sampson Clinton has established a burn site for debris
Wilson burn site established on NC 42
Septage (Toilet Waste)
Disposal sites for portable toilet waste continue to be a problem in eastern North Carolina. No permitted septage land application sites in New Hanover, Jones, Pamlico, Beaufort, Washington, Bertie, Hyde, Tyrrell, Dare, Chowan of Perquimans counties.
Sewage pumpers have been told they disposal sites could be allowed on an emergency basis (conditions available from local health departments).
Temporarily, portable toilet waste can be disked in until flood crisis passes.
DWM staff west of Rocky Mount and Tarboro is seeking sites.
City of Raleigh has offered to accept portable toilet waste from affected counties, if needed.
Edgecombe County officials seeking large trucks to move portable toilet waste from shelters to counties west of the flooded areas.
Land application of toilet waste not practical in Tarboro or Greenville areas due to wetness, flooding and closed roads.
Superfund
Superfund section has mapped 171 potentially flooded sites, involving CERCLA and State Inactive Sites. There are 5 sites reported as flooded with known effects or releases. 29 other sites have some flooding with possible effects or releases. Data is still pending on 9 sites.
Many sites may be flooded, but without likely effects because they have previously been cleaned up.
Hazardous Waste
There are approximately 355 hazardous waste disposal sites in the flooded area of eastern North Carolina. Field staff of the Division have contacted or visited 120 facilities. The staff reports majority of facilities was only slightly affected; most sites reporting they had taken precautionary measures before Hurricane Floyd arrived.
By regions, the Division has isolated following problems:
- Plymouth Weyerhaeuser facility likely flooded to proximity to Roanoke River.
- Winchester Boat facility in Princeville under water
- A few minor oil spills reported in Wilmington area; no problems at Cape Fear terminals or Wilmington and Morehead City ports.
- Former Borden Company (now Cherokee Co.) under water; damages unknown
- Excess water at Riegelwood-HoltraChem pumped into holding ponds; FEMA, EPA involved.
Underground Storage Tanks
The UST section estimates 1,556 UST facilities are in the flooded area. The flood has affected about 3,900 USTs. Those numbers do not include any home heating oil tanks or farm fuel oil or other non-commercial tanks.
Many areas of the flooded sections report a thin sheen of oil/petroleum on surface waters (source unknown at this point). Field staff are documenting reports of spills and leaks from USTs; will be summarizing same later today and outlining methods to protect the environment.
Once the flood waters recede, tank owners will be contacted about damages to UST systems and the type of help needed.
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