TOP STORY OF THE DAY - Now that’s a pile of mulch

IVY JACOBS PHOTOS.

The debris from the June 29 storm front is finally become a pile of mulch, and boy is it big.

At the end of June, a derecho - destructive storm front caused damage throughout Wabash Valley and impacted Clay County, and Brazil.

“This is going to take some weeks to clean it up,” Brazil Mayor Brian Wyndham said about the damages throughout the city. “A lot of great people out there working together to get a handle on this.”

Brazil Street Supervisor Brian Bemis admits it was a huge job to clear the fallen trees throughout the city, which found a storage place at Craig Park. Even he Indiana Department of Corrections and Indiana Homeland Security came to town to clear the debris.

This past Monday all that debris was shredded at two collection sites: one at Forest Park and another at Craig Park. It was done in one day at Forest Park and a total week at Craig Park.

Bemis said the tree limbs and brush at Forest park were ran through a large rotary chipper twice to make mulch that won’t go to waste.

Park Superintendent Marv Moon said park employees will be using some of the mulch at all of Brazil’s parks, and the current pile “is about 45’feet wide and 12 feet high.”

That is a lot of mulch, both Moon and Bemis agreed and wondered why local families in need of firewood this winter didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to collect some of the debris.

However, now that it’s in piles a new oppotunity presents it self - mulch.

“You know anybody who needs some mulch,” said Bemis with a laugh. “We got plenty.”