Pueblo crews begin tumbleweed cleanup after two invasions in two months
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) -- The severe winds that hit Pueblo last Wednesday led to trees collapsing, loss of power to hundreds of residents, and an avalanche of tumbleweeds in several neighborhoods on the city's southwest side.
"It's like being on an alien planet," said a homeowner whose house was surrounded by them.
On Monday, the city's Public Works Department began helping out Pueblo residents and neighborhoods to get rid of the tumbleweeds from the severe wind for the next several days.
Cleanup will continue throughout Pueblo until the main streets have been cleared -- which should be by the end of the week, said Andrew Hayes, the public works director.
"This normally happens once a decade or so," he said. "We've now had it twice in two months. It's because of lots of rain we had this summer and fall. We were still green late into fall. So when we had a freeze and the plants died, they really took off in the strong winds."
Hayes said that dump trucks will take the tumbleweeds to a street where houses are being built, to minimize neighborhood disruptions. Two front-end loaders will crush the bouncy bushes, a mower will shred the plants and the remains will be hauled to a landfill.
The city asked Pueblo residents to gather any tumbleweeds around their property and place them along the street curb. Residents had until the end of the day on Monday, Dec. 20, to place tumbleweeds that require disposal on the curb.
Tumbleweeds will be the only acceptable waste for disposal. Public Works crews cannot enter private property to remove any tumbleweeds.
Joe Martinez, a Pueblo homeowner, watched the tumbleweeds engulf his yard and said that he agrees with the city's strategy.
"I've done all that I can," he said. "I spent my off-day today raking (tumbleweeds) out of my yard. I've never seen them like this."
El Paso County, and southeastern areas of Colorado Springs, had even worse invasions in the spring and fall of 2014.
Ironically, this iconic symbol of the West isn't even native to America; tumbleweeds are actually Russian thistle believed to have arrived in the U.S. mixed with shipments of other seeds in the late 1800s.
Tumbleweeds also scatter their seeds when they break off and bounce, making them difficult to control.
You can view the progress on the tumbleweed cleanup on the City of Pueblo Tumbleweed Cleanup Begins Monday website.
