SWFL residents anxious for debris pick up

FORT MYERS, Fla. Debris lines the streets of Southwest Florida, leaving many residents anxious for clean up.

“I know there’s a lot to clean up, but please get us soon,” Debbie McPhail said. “At least in a week or two, not a month or two.”

Lee County says that there isn’t an official schedule for debris pick up right now due to contractor shortages and extensive flooding, causing months of clean up.

“I don’t know if I can make it, it’s too long,” McPhail said.

Unlike Hurricane Charley, the city says Hurricane Irma was more widespread, leading to a bigger mess.

With the mess and the contractor shortages, comes concerns.

“Just hope critters don’t start living in it, like rats and mice and stuff,” McPhail said. “Like, that you never know, so I just want it gone as soon as they can get it.”

Once the storm debris is picked up, it gets dropped off at recycling facilities. The debris will sit for eight months and then crews will heat it so it decomposes into piles.

The decomposed storm debris will then be used at farms and community gardens, so it can be used for growing food and plants.