While continuing to deal with the consequences of the big summer storm, Riga municipal services and companies are currently devoting all their efforts to preventing various hazardous situations by cutting down trees and branches, while the city's cleanup activities will start in the near future. Starting on Friday, residents of Riga will have the opportunity to drop off trees, branches and leaves that have fallen during the storm at two locations in the capital, and the municipality will also identify private home owners who need help in repairing the damage caused by the storm and offer individual solutions.
"Cyclone Kirsty has severely damaged our city, with thousands of fallen, broken trees and broken branches in both municipal and private areas. There is still a lot of work to do to clean everything up, and it will certainly take several weeks. Our priority now is to eliminate hazards - removing loose and broken trees in streets, parks and cemeteries, removing trees from utilities and buildings, helping to restore electricity connections for residents. Once the danger is cleared, we will immediately direct all our resources to the cleanup of the capital - to remove trees, branches and leaves, offering both places to bring everything on their own and individual solutions for those residents who do not have the means or capacity to deal with the storm's consequences in their private territories," says Acting Vice-Mayor Edvards Ratnieks.
"Many places in the city are still dangerous and have been appropriately restricted. I urge residents to respect the warnings and not to visit these places, and not to tear off the restrictive tapes," says Gints Reinsons, Head of the Riga Municipality Civil Protection and Operational Information Department.
Starting from Friday, 2 August, residents will have the opportunity to dispose of storm-generated bio-waste (branches, leaves), as well as large branches and trunks, at two collection points - 16a Uzvaras Boulevard and 12 Siguldas Prospekts in Mežaparks. Additional collection points will be created if necessary. There will be municipal staff at the collection sites to coordinate the sorting of the waste. It is prohibited to bring other types of waste to these collection points.
Residents who need help in dealing with the consequences of the storm, e.g. large trees have fallen in the yards or gardens of private houses, but do not have the means or capacity to do so, are invited to apply and provide information to the Riga Neighbourhood Population Centre by phone 80000800 or by email aic@riga.lv. A personalised solution will be offered for each case.
If you want to speed up the cleaning process in your private property, you can contact your waste manager and request bulky waste collection. It is a paid service, each operator has its own offer and prices.
E. Ratnieks has summoned a meeting of the Riga Municipality Civil Protection Commission on Monday, 5 August, at 13:00 to assess the progress of the recovery from the storm.
Information was prepared by: Mārtiņš Vilemsons, Project Coordinator at External Communication Division of Riga City Council, email: martins.vilemsons@riga.lv
