Do this first.

Before you pick up a single branch. These four steps protect your safety, your insurance claim, and your eligibility for federal assistance.

1. Take photos of everything before you move anything. Wide shots of each room and the exterior, then close-ups of every damaged item. Date-stamped photos from your phone are sufficient. No photos, no claim — insurance and FEMA both require visual evidence.
2. Do not enter an unsafe structure. If you see structural damage, gas leaks, electrical hazards, or standing water near outlets, stay out. Call your local building or code enforcement office for a structural check before going inside.
3. Wait for guidance from your local jurisdiction before placing debris at the curb. Pickup is almost always phased — vegetation first, then construction debris, then appliances. Putting debris out before your zone is announced can void pickup eligibility.
4. Wear gloves, long sleeves, closed sturdy shoes, and a mask. Disaster debris contains nails, glass, mold, asbestos, lead paint, and chemical residues. Tetanus shots should be current. Do not work alone, and stop when you are tired — most injuries happen at the end of the day.

Sort your debris.

Five separate piles. This is not optional. Each category below shows what belongs in it and what does not.

Where to put it.

Five separate piles at the curb, on your property side. Spacing and clearance matter — pickup crews need vehicle access and overhead clearance to grab your debris.

What will not be picked up.

If a pile is left behind after a pickup pass, it is almost always one of these reasons. Most are avoidable.

• Debris from before the disaster — old yard waste, regular household trash, remodel debris from work you did last year
• Mixed piles. Crews will not separate categories for you. They will drive past.
• Debris from inside your home that you carried out before a damage inspector saw it. This can affect both your FEMA assistance and insurance claim.
• Debris on private driveways or private property — only curbside and public right-of-way debris is picked up
• Debris from commercial businesses, which is handled separately
• Debris on private roads in gated communities or HOAs — some jurisdictions cover these, most do not. Confirm with your local emergency manager.
• Dead animals — these go through a separate animal control or sanitation channel
• Piles placed after the final pickup pass for your zone has been announced
• Items not meeting size or cut requirements — oversized branches, intact tree trunks, large slabs

Insurance & FEMA assistance.

What you do in the first 48 hours decides whether your claim and federal assistance application succeed. The patterns below are the same in every disaster.

• Document everything with photos and a written inventory before you move it. List items, approximate age, approximate value, condition before and after. No photos, no claim.
• Save every receipt for tarps, plywood, generators, batteries, ice, lodging, emergency repairs, and contractors. Many are reimbursable through insurance, FEMA, or both.
• Call your insurance company before major cleanup. They may need to inspect the damage in place before you discard items. Some policies have strict timelines, typically 24 to 72 hours to report.
• Apply for FEMA assistance at DisasterAssistance.gov or 1-800-621-3362 — but only if a federal disaster has been declared for your county. Check declaration status at FEMA.gov.
• Do not sign over your insurance check to a contractor without verifying the contractor’s license, references, and physical address. Assignment of benefits fraud is the most common post-disaster scam.
• Keep a damage log: date, time, action taken, who you spoke with, reference numbers. You will be repeating yourself dozens of times across insurance, FEMA, contractors, and SBA. The log saves you.

Avoid scams.

Disaster zones attract fraud at predictable scale. The patterns are the same in every event. If something feels off, hang up and call your local emergency management office or state consumer protection bureau.

• Out-of-state contractors going door to door with high-pressure offers and discounts that expire today. Verify any contractor’s license through your state contractor licensing board before signing or paying anything.
• Anyone claiming to be a “FEMA inspector” who asks for payment. FEMA inspectors never charge a fee. Ever. They carry photo ID and an inspector badge with a federal ID number.
• Demands for cash up front or full payment before work starts. Reputable contractors do not require this. A reasonable deposit (10 to 25 percent) is normal; full payment is not.
• Unsolicited offers to “expedite” your FEMA claim for a fee. FEMA does not work this way. Anyone claiming otherwise is committing fraud.
• Pressure to sign anything immediately — contracts, assignment of benefits forms, power of attorney. Take everything home. Read it. Get a second opinion. Real contractors will wait.
• “Roof inspectors” who climb up without permission and report damage that was not there. They are creating the claim, not finding it.

Your local jurisdiction.

This guide covers the universal patterns. Local rules — pickup phases, HHW drop-off locations, contractor licensing — vary by county and city. Find these before a disaster, not during one.

• Sign up for your county and state emergency alert system. Most use Everbridge, CodeRED, or a similar service. Alerts are how you will learn pickup phases, road closures, boil-water orders, and evacuation routes.
• Know your evacuation zone if you live in a hurricane, wildfire, or flood-prone area. Most states publish zone maps online.
• Know whether you are on a private road, HOA road, or public right-of-way. This affects debris pickup eligibility. Confirm with your local emergency manager now.
• Identify two routes out of your area that do not require crossing the same bridge, river, or highway. Practice them.