Some Cape Coral residents taking Irma cleanup into their own hands

Cape Coral, Fla. – Weeks after Hurricane Irma, some people in Cape Coral are taking clean up into their own hands.

Steven Tipsord and his wife made two trips to this debris drop off site, “We were gonna wait and then we picked up the stuff and noticed our grass was dying so the heck with it, we’ll just bring it out here and try and get everything around ourselves.” Tipsord said. “Now we’re just cleaning up trying to get back to normal.”

And they’re not the only ones. Cape coral resident Art Walker agreed “You can’t sit around and whine and wait for the city to do everything for you. Just take care of your responsibilities.” Walker said while he dumped trash cans full of leaves and branches from his yard into a pile.

Drive down almost any street in the cape and you’ll find piles of debris sitting by the side of the road.

We checked in with the city who said they now have 10 -15 crews picking up debris. They planned to start sooner but were delayed when contractors backed out.

Homeowner Jason Cattrell said “We’re just trying to get rid of it mostly because it’s killing the grass and all that stuff you know.” he knows the city is doing everything they can with the amount of debris left behind, but for him and so many others, they’re just ready to get back to normal.

But it could have been worse. “We didn’t really want all the dead grass and the nasty looking yard you know what I mean.” Cattrell said, “You know, I think all things considered, it’s much much better than it was with Charley.”

The city says the original contractors backed out after being slammed with calls from the recent hurricane. Whether the city will be working with the company in the future, we’re told it’s too soon to make that decision.