The Tennessee Valley gets its share of straight-line wind, hail and tornado warnings from March to May and again in the fall. The morning after, the yard has limbs, a fence on the ground, shingles and pieces of a neighbor's shed in it. We haul it. We also take the ordinary yard debris that piles up: brush from clearing a lot line, old landscaping timbers, dead shrubs.
When a storm is declared the city runs debris passes of its own; we say which part of your pile those will take for free and haul what is left.
What a storm and yard debris cleanup job involves
- Photo of the yard; quote by load
- Crew with saws for anything that needs cutting down to size
- Loaded and gone, most storm piles within a day or two
- Yard raked clear
What's included
- Limbs, fence panels, roofing and shed pieces, loaded by the crew
- Hauling within a day or two after a storm
- Advice on which part of the pile the city collects for free
- Brush, dead shrubs and landscape timbers on ordinary weeks
- Disposal at the facility, inside the load price
Not included
- Trees on structures or across lines (a tree crew and the utility go first)
- Stump grinding and tree felling
- Dirt, rock and concrete from washouts, unless quoted by weight
Storm cleanup in Madison County
Most storm mornings in Madison County are smaller than the outbreak everyone remembers from April 2011: a night of wind that drops limbs across a subdivision in Harvest, a fence flat in Madison, a section of roof in a yard in Hazel Green, a carport on its side in Owens Cross Roads. The calls come in together, so the crew books those mornings by neighborhood and works one street at a time, which is how a fence-and-limb pile gets cleared in one visit instead of three.
Before you call anyone, know what the city will take. The City of Huntsville collects tree limbs at the curb as long as they are cut to five feet or less, and it collects bagged leaves and clippings in bags under fifty pounds, on your route day. Above about ten cubic yards of yard waste the city charges for the extra, and it does not collect limbs from land clearing, or dirt, rocks and concrete at all. What the crew hauls is the pile that fails those rules, or the pile that cannot wait.
Two things help while you wait for a slot. Stack what the city will take behind the curb, not in the road, the gutter or over a storm drain, which is where the city asks for it and where a pile stops being a hazard to the neighbors. And keep the rest, the fence panels, the roofing, the shed pieces and anything mixed with household junk, in one place the truck can back up to. Trees on a house or across a driveway are a tree crew's job first; once the tree is on the ground, the limbs and the fence it took with it are hauled.
Storm and Yard Debris Cleanup pricing in Huntsville
Storm debris is priced by the load like any pickup: a quarter truck at $225 to $325 for a fence run and a pile of limbs, a half truck at $375 to $500 for a yard full, a full truck at $625 to $800 when the roof came off the shed as well. Cutting limbs down to size and loading are inside the number. If part of your pile is something the city would take for free on your route day, the crew says so on the quote rather than charging you for it.
Timing moves the price more than volume after a big storm, because everybody calls at once. Ordinary yard debris on a quiet week is the bottom of each range. Same-day and next-morning slots after a named storm carry a premium, and a pile that has to be cut before it can be loaded takes longer than one that is already stacked. Photos from the yard the morning after get you a firm number and a slot.
Full price list and what moves the price →
Related: Bulk Trash Pickup in Huntsville: What the City Takes and What It Won't, Junk removal in Madison, Junk removal in Athens. Official page: City of Huntsville.
Storm and Yard Debris Cleanup questions, answered
Will the City of Huntsville pick up my storm debris?
Some of it. The city's collection rules take tree limbs cut to five feet or shorter and bagged leaves and clippings on your regular route day, with a charge once a pile passes about ten cubic yards. It does not collect fence panels, roofing, shed pieces, construction debris or anything mixed with household junk, and it does not collect land-clearing limbs. After a declared storm the schedule can stretch for weeks, which is when a crew is worth calling.
How fast can a crew come after a storm in Madison County?
Single loads are usually gone within the week, and the morning-after calls get the first slots because the truck is booked by neighborhood. A fence and limb pile is often cleared in one visit. If a tree is on the house or a power line is down in the debris, that is the utility or a tree crew first; the hauling comes once the yard is safe to work in, and the crew will say so rather than send a truck that cannot load.
Do you take regular yard waste when there has not been a storm?
Yes. Whatever a weekend of pruning, a cleared fence line or a dead hedge leaves behind is hauled by the load on any week of the year, and the crew brings saws for anything still too big to lift. Bagged leaves and limbs already cut short are cheaper to leave for the city's route day, and the quote says which part of your pile that is so you pay only for the rest.