GENEVA, Fla. — Hurricane Ian has come and gone, but its destruction may take months to clean up and haul off.
What You Need To Know
- Seminole County says now 20% of yard debris from Hurricane Ian has been collected
- The process to gather all vegetation and debris will take 6-8 weeks
- Most of the debris will soon become mulch
Yard debris and vegetation are quickly becoming brown in thousands of front yards and will still be there through Halloween for several areas around the county.
About 80 trucks are in the county working 12-hour days to get this out of yards and at landfills.
Here is a glimpse of the @seminolecounty landfill in Geneva. Remember, only about 20% of storm debris has been collected so far! Imagine what this will look like in coming weeks. @MyNews13 pic.twitter.com/ehCg91LcGY
— Spectrum News Asher Wildman (@AsherWildman13) October 17, 2022
Entering the week, Seminole County has been able to remove 20% of all the yard and vegetation debris.
One of the trucks named 'Bertha' is here from North Carolina. The double-wide trailer hauled tree limbs from Colleen Tiollotson’s home in Sanford.
She had been patiently awaiting the pickup.
“I know there is a lot of debris,” the Sanford homeowner says watching the truck scoop up trees that use to stand in her yard. “There’s a lot of houses in the world.”
According to the county, the western part of the county was the worst affected.
Trying to arrange, solve, and coordinate vegetation cleanup is the interim manager of Solid Waste, Hector Valle, who knows trucks will be scooping, collecting, and driving away from over 200 thousand county homes.
"Currently our workers are working seven days a week, for 12-14 hours a day while they have sunlight collecting,” Valle said. “Then at the sites, they are working longer hours grinding the materials.”
What started inTiollotson's yard, will soon become mulch for areas around the county, sod farms, and even the landfill to cover daily waste.
“Sometimes you can’t solve everything and fix it all at one time,” Tiollotson says. “It takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight.”
And this cleanup won’t. Valle predicts it will take six to eight weeks to remove all the yard debris accumulated around the county in front of people's homes.
Click here for storm debris pickup resources across all Central Florida counties.
Raise your hand if you are excited to see this in your neighborhood? @seminolecounty tells me all the storm tree debris & vegetation will take 6-8 weeks minimum. @MyNews13 pic.twitter.com/VvBb4PaUat
— Spectrum News Asher Wildman (@AsherWildman13) October 17, 2022