Iredell County, NC Hurricane Preparedness: Storm Debris (2026)

Section 12-17, titled 'Casualty damage solid waste,' addresses what happens to debris after a hurricane, storm, fire or other casualty destroys or badly damages a building. No owner, occupant, tenant or lessee of commercial, industrial or residential property may let the solid waste remaining from a structure damaged beyond repair sit on the property for more than one year after investigations by the fire marshal and casualty insurance companies are complete, if the debris negatively affects the value of surrounding property, mars the area's appearance, or causes a public health nuisance.

The code defines 'beyond repair' precisely: the cost of repairing the casualty damage must exceed the value the structure had before the casualty occurred. The one-year clock does not start at the moment of the storm; it starts once the fire marshal's and insurers' investigations are finished, giving owners time to work through claims before the removal deadline runs. The county enforces this section either on petition of a neighboring property owner in the immediate area where the debris sits, or on the solid waste enforcement officer's own finding that the waste is creating a public health nuisance, using the penalty structure in section 12-12.