Massive Environmental Headache in Florida

"This is storm debris on a scale Florida hasn't seen in a long time."

"With hundreds of people moving to Florida every day and coastal development off the charts, the combination of that and more intense hurricanes results in this massive problem."

Jon Paul Brooker, director of Florida conservation, Ocean Conservancy

"We have a landfill we're trying to maximize the life of."

"And we don't have that much space in our county to create a new one."

John Elias, director, public works, Charlotte County, Florida

"There's a lot of debris we know is in the water that we can't see."

"Anything that was on the land, you should expect to be pushed, pulled, dragged into the water."

Jason Rolfe, coordinator, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Marine Debris Program 

A view of the overflow debris management site at Maximo Park where debris from Hurricane Ian collected in St. Petersburg has been taken over the past month. The city is on schedule to finish debris collection next week, an administrator said. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]

 

Clean-up crews are continuing to work in the removal of "ghost" lobster traps in the Florida Keys that were abandoned over five years ago when Hurricane Irma struck; traps that continue to ensnare and kill marine animals, a special concern of Jason Rolfe. It is imperative that the waste be removed, but of first concern to authorities is digging out homes and businesses, leaving environmentalists to fear that storm waste remaining in the water could damage sea grasses and fragile habitats in the shallow coastal waters of the state.

Hurricane Michael inflicted heavy damage four years ago, leaving Florida's Bay County in the position of still pulling debris and broken-down boats out of their waters today. An estimated 2.4 million pounds has been removed from their bays. "We are still cleaning up". Country Manager Bob Majka confirmed.

When Hurricane Ian slammed into the southwest Florida coast almost two months ago it destroyed thousands of homes, taking over 100 lives and leaving state and local governments to wrestle with the conundrum of how to manage a staggering amount of storm debris. Mountains of refuse sit at dozens of temporary sites throughout the state. The debris is comprised of fallen trees, mildewing carpet, sodden drywall and allied household items the storm destroyed.

State officials estimated that in the past seven weeks crews removed about 20.4 million cubic yards of debris. That's a huge amount of waste, but millions more litter the state. Hurricane Ian is estimated to have left close to 31 million cubic yards of debris. according to the Army Corps of Engineers. Representing about five times the amount of storm debris left by Hurricane Sandy in New York. 

Efforts at cleanup in Florida's coastal cities and counties hit hardest by the Category 4 storm is expected to take months of hard work, at a cost of billions. Following Hurricane Nicole's east coast hit as a Category 1 hurricane on November 10th the enormous clean-up became even more challenging. Beachside homes were toppled into the sea, leaving others uninhabitable when the November storm lashed Daytona Beach; for which no estimate of damage has yet been determined.

In 2017, after Hurricane Irma swept Florida, major damage was left in the Florida Keys, causing about two-thirds of the residents to lose power across the state and leaving close to 29 million cubic yards of debris. Hurricane Michael the next year created close to 33 million cubic yards. Science indicates that these costly disasters will continue to grow in number as sea levels rise and waming waters cause hurricanes to gain rapid strength prior to roaring ashore. 

Because of its shallow water table and potential for makeshift landfills leaching contaminants into groundwater, there are particular challenges Florida faces. "Where are we possibly going to find room for all this [debris]?", asks University of Florida professor of environmental engineering, Timothy Townsend. When damaged drywall from flooded homes reaches landfills, he points out, the wet gypsum mixes with bacteria that produce hydrogen sulfide gas. Not only does it stink like rotten eggs, the toxic gas can trigger headaches and nausea and cause health problems for people with asthma.