It may be the Fourth of July, but Ironton public works employees will begin today to clean up the tree limbs and other such debris left over from the storm late last week.

“We ask people to be patient,” Mayor Rich Blankenship said. “This is going to take some time. The problem is citywide and we can only do so much in one day.”

Blankenship asked people to push their tree limbs, etc., toward the curb. Debris will be collected from there. City workers are not permitted to go on private property and perform work; the debris must be brought to the curb.

It will be taken to the city compost site for disposal. People who choose to handle their problems themselves may take their compostable debris to the landfill themselves.

Blankenship said the costs associated directly with cleanup work will be reimbursed through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Blankenship said he has been told that, as of Tuesday, there were still a couple hundred customers in Ironton without power. For those who have no electricity and hence, no air conditioning, the First Baptist Church has opened a cooling station in its Faith and Fitness Center. The cooling station will be open from 1-8 p.m daily.

Meanwhile, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said the temperatures have been high and are likely to stay that way for at least the next seven days.

“We’re a little warmer than usual but most of it has not been record-setting yet,” meteorolgist Liz Sommerville said.

The month of June was, on the average three degrees cooler than the normal average of 83 degrees.

June was drier than normal, too. Last month this area collected 2.3 inches of rain. The normal precipitation tally for June is 3.88 inches.

Sommerville said the heat wave remains in the forecast until at least Monday.