Sarasota County’s waste chief explains delay in removal.
By Della Hale
Original Air Date: October 16, 2024
Host: Debris left after Hurricane Helene became a hazard during Milton, particularly on flooded barrier islands, and now mountains of furniture, drywall and yard waste are piling up in front of homes. WSLR reporter Della Hale has the latest on Sarasota County efforts of debris removal.
Della Hale: Sarasota County has been working to collect debris left behind by both Hurricanes Milton and Helene, but many residents have wondered why there was such a long delay in clearing debris after Hurricane Helene. And now, with Hurricane Milton having compounded the problem, what’s the situation today? I spoke with Sarasota Waste Management Director Wendi Crisp to get some answers.
Crisp explained the delay in debris collection after Helene. “We allowed a 90-day window for collections to give people ample time to gather their debris.” However, this extended timeline meant that when Hurricane Milton arrived, much of the debris from Helene was still sitting in people’s yards. As the first bands of Milton reached the area, many residents, especially those on the barrier islands, had not yet seen contractors begin cleanup. In fact, mobilization of debris collection teams didn’t begin until just 48 hours before Hurricane Milton hit.
I spoke with Lourdres Ramirez to ask about the debris and the damage.
Lourdes Ramirez: Okay, so we still have our debris. We have not received any indication that the county is going to go down our street. I believe they’re focusing the debris cleanup on the major roads right now, which makes sense in that these are evacuation routes to the bridges and so they need to have those cleared first and then they can go into the neighborhoods. And some of the condos have tons of debris to pick up along the major routes. So it’ll take some time.
DH: Crisp also explained that their contractors had to go through a process with the county.
Wendi Crisp: I know that Kruse worked incredibly hard over the course of a few days, and I know the state sent some additional resources to us to help collect as much debris as possible prior to the arrival of Milton. There was just a limited time frame. And also we understand that there are other communities, not only across the state, but across the country who also need debris collection resources, and working with the resources that we have to get as much done as we possibly could, and working with those contractors to make sure that they were able to collect debris in accessible areas.
You have to keep in mind that some areas may not have been completely accessible to debris collectors that quickly after a storm. So working with the resources that we had, we were able to pick up as much as we could in that short time frame. But, you know, when another storm was barreling our direction, it’s also important to keep in mind the safety of those workers as well. So, at some point, to keep them safe, we did have to get them off the roads too.
DH: Debris from Hurricane Helene was still sitting in piles aside roadways and in folks’ lawns. The county cleared the main roads of their debris simply because they were evacuation routes, leaving the side roads to dust. Ramirez says that her debris piles were layered with debris from other houses.
LR: When we first arrived onto our street, we still had a lot of flooding. And then on top of that we have debris with it. So it was difficult to navigate to get around to the house. And then once we got to the house, we noticed that there’s things piled up on there that didn’t belong to us. But I’m sure there are probably parts of my debris pile on someone else’s yard. I did notice my next door neighbor, who had a glass front door, she had shattered glass. So I get the feeling, because she had debris up front, when the winds came, it broke some of her glass. Didn’t happen in my house, but it happened in my next door neighbors’.
DH: Dump sites for yard waste have been set up at Rothenbach Park, 8650 Bee Ridge Road, Sarasota, and at Jackson Road Transfer Station, 250 S. Jackson Road, Venice.
The concern now is how the county will manage if there are back-to-back storms in the future, given the challenges experienced with Helene and Milton. With debris from one storm still lingering when the next storm struck, Sarasota County is facing tough questions about preparedness and how to ensure that storm recovery efforts can move more swiftly in the future.
This is Della Hale, reporting for WSLR News.
(Photo by Mark Warriner)
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