In the weeks after Hurricane Ian made landfall, local crew members and third-party contractors dented piles of browned tree branches, sticks, and leaves that had piled up outside their homes.
However, continued flooding in some areas delayed initial debris collection and added unprecedented damage to household items. Also, some areas of Seminole and Osceola counties were no longer reachable by collection workers.
Across central Florida, solid waste managers say it will take weeks, if not more, for cleanup operations to be completed. Some carriers are facing queues at landfills and reporting delays to local authorities.
“There was more debris [caused by Hurricane] Irma,” said Joseph England, deputy manager of Orlando’s solid waste division. “It was the amount of flooding and the amount of massive household items that were damaged that replaced Irma’s impact this year.”
The same is true in Seminole County, where solid waste manager Hector Valle said his office was inundated with calls from people frustrated that their waste wasn’t being picked up. Earlier this month, the county said on Facebook that swearing or calling phone operators by name was “unacceptable and does not expedite service.”
Valle said he sees a small army of about 142 men in more than 80 trucks and trailers spending 12 to 14 hours each day cleaning up the mess.
Flooding in the Geneva area along Lake Harney has made debris inaccessible to crews, slowing response in areas that have recently receded, he said.
“There are a lot of areas that are unreachable at the moment,” he said. “The public must be patient. They are going as fast as they can.”
So far, though, they’ve picked up about a quarter of the plant debris and expect to be nearly 40% complete by the end of the week.
“We project close to 800,000 cubic yards of material,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
Valle said it will take six to eight weeks to collect everything. By the time they are completed, Valle said he believes about 40% of the total collected will be household items.
In Orange County, more than 1,700 properties were damaged, totaling more than $206 million in damages, assessed by the assessors, but the debris is widespread.
An Orange County landfill received approximately 8,700 tons of yard waste from October 1 through October 19. That’s a 65% increase for him from the same time last year, said Orange County spokeswoman Debbie Sponsor.
Contractors working for the county have picked up more than 45,000 cubic yards of debris and expect the final total to be about 100,000 cubic yards, said the manager of public works financial and operational support. Ralphetta Aker said.
In the suburbs of Orange County, Winter Park, and Maitland, crews recovered most of the wreckage from Hurricane Ian.
Solid waste removal contractors in Winter Park completed their first pass through the area this week, collecting about 12,000 cubic yards so far this week, while in Maitland most of the area has been collected, totaling 9,000 cubic yards. became a yard.
Osceola, which is also battling flooding in the Single Creek basin, sent three trucks from contractors onto the road this week and recovered about 772 cubic yards Monday through Tuesday, said county spokesperson Crystal Diaz. Stated.
As of Wednesday, Lake County had collected more than 4,200 cubic yards. Ian scraped and avoided many of the gusts that blew through. Damage is concentrated in Aster, where flooding from the St. Johns River has been seen.
Orlando residents can track when cleaners are coming to their neighborhoods on the city’s website, orlando.gov/ian. In the city, contractors have crews of 9 to his 12 people picking up fallen logs and large limbs on the roads, and a full fleet of claw trucks concentrating on furniture and construction debris. Garbage trucks in the garden are collecting bagged leaves and sticks.
After 2017’s Hurricane Irma, some contractor crews were already working in Houston to clean up Hurricane Harvey, but this time crews were working in Orlando by October 5. .
England said residents can speed up efforts by separately piling large limbs and logs, building materials and household items, and bagging small garden waste. He hopes the crew will complete the first run of all areas by November 4 and return next week to collect more debris.
The city is projecting about 75,000 cubic yards of debris caused by Ian and has already recovered about 1,300 tons of household items.
“Just be patient. We are coming,” he said. “If a crew member drives past and seems a little perky and has moved on, be sure they’ll be back.”
rygillespie@orlandosentinel.com
