PORT CHARLOTTE, FL — Another step forward in the recovery process. Charlotte County has begun clearing debris from Hurricane Ian on all waterways, including canals, lakes and waterways.
“Aluminium from the roofs. Tree branches — anything you could think of being blown away in a storm, washed up in this water,” said Deborah Walsh, who lives along the Hayward Canal in Port Charlotte.
Zulu Discovery, a disaster relief cleaning contractor hired by the county, began cleaning the water behind Walsh’s home on Tuesday morning.
“I cried when I found out they were coming,” Walsh said.
Jean Townsend, who also lives nearby, said she couldn’t be happier to see workers in her neighborhood.
“For us, it’s really been a blessing to clean it up,” she said. I need these things outside of , and I think that’s a higher priority right now.”
It’s one of Charlotte County’s priorities as we work to clean up our water and land. As of Tuesday, spokesperson Brian Gleason said contractors had cleared his one million cubic yards of debris.
Public Works previously told Fox 4 that contractors hope to collect a significant amount of debris in Charlotte County by March. I asked him if he started working.
“Land and waterway debris are separate contracts, so whatever efforts we make for our waterways will have no effect on what we are doing on land,” Gleason said.
Walsh says he’s happy not only for his community, but for the nature that surrounds it.
“I think the water is the most important because with all this debris and wildlife, because the seagrass grows and the manatees come in,” she explained.
Charlotte County said it doesn’t yet have a timeline for when the waterways will be completely clean. is.
Gleason said they are working on the salt water canal first so that sailors can safely return to the water.
“There’s still a lot to do, it’s a work in progress,” Townsend said. “It was emotional, but I am so grateful to Zulu Discovery for cleaning up the canals for us.”
Charlotte County will launch a water purification dashboard similar to the existing one to show communities which waterways have been purified so far.
Contractors will not clean up Charlotte Harbor or the Peace River as Gleason says they are regulated by state or federal governments.
