After Hurricane Ian made landfall in late September, Cape Coral was severely damaged, with almost every structure damaged to some degree.
The city also experienced water and power restoration problems, with the latter taking longer to fully restore.
As subtropical storm Nicole is now approaching Florida’s east coast, its potential impact on Cape Coral is being closely monitored.
On the city’s Facebook page, the fire department said the city was monitoring the situation with Nicole.
“While this storm is not expected to have a significant impact on Cape Coral and the SWFL region, heavy rainfall is possible through mid- to late-week,” the post said.
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Mayor Rob Hernandez said it was “too early” to comment on the impact of the storm on the city.
Karen Ryan, director of public affairs for Lee County Electric Cooperative, said in an email that it’s too early to tell how customers will be affected.
LCEC is monitoring the weather and preparing, reconnecting customers with systems repaired and power ready, and contacting suppliers and vendors.
Employees are on standby and a crew of 500 is ready to respond if needed.
One of Ian’s other effects on the city is the large amount of storm debris on both the city’s streets and canals.
Cape Coral began cleaning its canals this week. Permits from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection were required for the crew to work on the canal. The city got the approval last week.
Solid waste manager Terry Schweitzer said there was an estimated 200,000 cubic yards of debris in the city’s canals.
“The crew may have to deal with some rain (from Nicole), but other than that we expect no further damage,” Schweitzer said.
As for the street debris cleanup, Schweitzer said it collected 1.2 million pieces of the 1.8 million cubic yards of storm debris left by Hurricane Ian.
Luis Zambrano is a Watchdog/Cape Coral reporter for The News-Press and Naples Daily News. Luis can be reached at Lzambrano@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Lz2official.
