City of Cape Coral holds press conference; here are 10 takeaways

Cape Coral held a press conference Monday morning to discuss Hurricane Milton.

Cape Coral Mayor John Gunter says storm surge is the biggest threat of Hurricane Milton to the city. His message to his neighbors Monday morning is to make a plan and execute it now.

Cape Coral has 400 miles of canals, meaning there’s lots of water. When water fills the canals, it has nowhere else to go besides residential neighborhoods which is why it is best to prepare now.

“Make sure that your residence is secure. Put your storm shutters on, make sure all the loose debris around the house, your patio furniture, get that all secured,” Gunter said.

WINK News Reporter Olivia Jean has compiled 10 takeaways from the press conference Monday morning.

One: Stay with family and friends. The shelters will get crowded. The only shelter in Cape Coral is Island Coast High School. It is currently open.

Two: Use the cape coral hurricane guide.

“The Cape Coral Hurricane Guide has many resources that are available, and that’s available on our city website, and that provides a number of resources that are in there and helps build that plan, or helps fill in some of those gaps in your plan,” said Ryan Lamb, the Cape Coral Fire Chief & Emergency Management Director.

Three: Know your zone. Zones A and B are being told to evacuate, which cover some significant land in Cape Coral.

Four: Put your hurricane shutters up.

Five: Trash will not be collected on Tuesday and Wednesday. Trash may resume on Thursday if it is safe.

Six: public works has been hard at work and cleared the storm drains.

“As far as the canal systems, we do lower the weirs. We pull the grate so as much water can go out as possible to increase that capacity, but we don’t have the ability to block off canals to do anything else,” said Lamb. “Again, a lot of them are directly connected to the Gulf of Mexico, so we’re contingent upon the tides and the other things that they’re affected those canal heights.”

Seven: Bring Hurricane Helene debris inside.

Eight: if communication or power goes down, City Hall or the fire stations will be open as information stations.

Nine: secure your boat and don’t stay on it.

Ten: the City of Cape Coral will not provide sandbags, stating research shows they aren’t effective.

“There’s several commercial devices, some of them shaped like an “L”, that bolt to the openings, doors and windows. Some of them are water-filled, things called the tiger dams, or there’s other barriers that exist. I’ve seen other people use silicone tape to try and seal those openings,” said Lamb.

You can find some of those alternatives at Lowes and Home Depot.