Two weeks after a severe thunderstorm hit Missoula and surrounding communities, workers are still cleaning up the debris. The City of Missoula is now offering to pick up debris from residential homes.

Piles of tree debris still lie in nearly every neighborhood in Missoula. On the evening of July 24, hurricane-force winds toppled power lines and knocked down or damaged trees that had stood there for generations.

Experts estimate that at least 80% of the city’s trees have suffered damage.

In the days immediately following the storm, county and city cleanup efforts focused on public lands, including streets, sidewalks and alleys. At the time, officials said they did not have the capacity to remove debris from private property.

That changed this week. Nick Holloway of the Missoula County Emergency Management Agency says local authorities now have more flexibility to help residents.

“It’s really the evolution of a disaster like this,” Holloway said.

Crews will be patrolling all Missoula neighborhoods over the next four to six weeks. Planned collection areas will be announced every Friday on the county website missoula.co/storm.

“We needed as much help as possible as early as possible and were not planning on removing private debris from residential properties until we had a better estimate of how much debris there actually was and how much help we needed with it,” Holloway said.

It is unclear how much the cleanup will cost. Following local requests for disaster declarations, Governor Greg Ginaforte issued a statewide disaster declaration for Missoula and Mineral counties.

This means the state will spend money from the general fund to help the region rebuild.