FRANKFORT, Ky. — Crews have made “significant strides” cleaning up from last year’s catastrophic flooding in eastern Kentucky, but there is still a long way to go, transportation officials told lawmakers Tuesday.

John Moore, deputy state highway engineer with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, told an interim joint transportation committee that contractors have collected almost 160,000 tons of debris from the right of way and 330,000 tons of debris from waterways.

A third, extended right of way phase deals with debris that couldn’t reach the right of way, he said.  

“In some parlance, it may be considered a private property debris removal, where we collected debris that could not make it out to the right of way,” he said. “This effort is ongoing but is expected to finish up within the month.”

KYTC identified 500 road damage issues, ranging from landslides to roadway slips to wash outs, said Moore.

“I’m happy to say that all of those washouts have been fully restored,” he said. “We are still working on the roadway slips and unfortunately, we’ll work on those for a number of years to come.”

Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, said crews are making great progress and asked residents for their patience.

“We’re not going to leave them and we’re still there and we’re going to continue to be with them until we get things right,” he told Spectrum News 1. “We went from 34 bridges down to 12 bridges that we lack and those (requests for proposals) are going out this year, and so hopefully, we’re going to continue to see progress. I have no doubt of that.”

The current estimate for flood debris cleanup, disposal and monitoring efforts is about $200 million, according to Moore.