ST. LOUIS – Officials are attempting to remove debris and downed trees in the aftermath of the May 16 tornado.

All those trees destroyed by the tornado are winding up at St. Louis Composting’s city location, north of downtown.

“(A) lot of things going on here,” said Patrick Geraty, president and owner of St. louis composting. “We have these big storm trucks out on the street. As long as people are separating their brush and putting it on the curb, then these trucks are coming through.”

The business has been running 12-hour days seven days a week. City trucks are also down below, and up behind, on an unused 15-acre part of the city landfill, a full-scale tornado recovery effort.

St. Louis Composting is coordinating with the city of St. Louis Forestry Division and Missouri DNR. Trucks from across the Midwest and the city’s contractor, Michael’s Tree Service, are delivering loads nonstop.

“They’re a very specialized truck,” Geraty said. “You’ll see these in hurricanes and ice storms anywhere there’s a lot of debris to pick up. Michael’s tree and loader out of Memphis has the emergency contract with the city. And they’re hauling probably 150 cubic yards with every load.”

The storm debris gets grinded down and hauled to sites across the Bi-state region to turn into compost and mulch.