SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — Mountain piles of debris are still common, and as the recovery process continues, even bigger ones are now springing up around our area.
In Sarasota County, leaders have called for patience, and as efforts pick up steam, they have promised to complete the clean-up as soon as possible.
There are around 300 people who are part of the contractors activated with nearly 100 dual-hauling units trying to get all the storm debris off the streets.
"It's incredible to see how much stuff they have that's piled out there," said Artavius Curry, a junk removal contractor.
Curry and his team are collecting debris from private yards and putting them onto the curb for the hauling units to pick up.
"It has been really hectic and traumatic at the same time because a lot of people are going through a lot of trouble right now and you've got to have some good integrity not to take advantage of people out there during such a desperate time of their life," Curry said.
Debris collection contractors are working seven days a week in Sarasota and are targeting hard-hit communities like Siesta Key.
After they pick up the debris from the curbside, they take their cargo and dump it at any of the six debris sites in the county.
"Most of what you encounter here is traffic. There is a lot of traffic out here because there's a lot of companies out there picking up debris," Curry said.
Despite the ongoing efforts, neighbors have said it's not fast enough.
"When you drive through these neighborhoods and as you just see on my road alone, you know, two cars can't even pass each other going north to south because of the debris in the roads," said Shawn Kellie of Siesta Key.
"With a storm of this size, recovery does take time and we do understand that people are ready to have that material taken away," said Wendi Crisp with Sarasota Solid Waste Management.
According to Crisp, so far crews have moved around 344,000 cubic yards of material including vegetative, construction, and demolition, and household goods.
"During Hurricane Ian, which was a couple of years ago, we had about 3,000,000 cubic yards of material. In comparison, we had Hurricane Irma years ago which was 300,000 cubic yards. So over the years with these different storms, we've unfortunately been seeing, you know, more volume of materials that have to be collected and cleaned up," Crisp said.
Officials said the plan is to complete the debris collection process within 90 days from the date of activation. That means residents should expect to still see debris collection continuing till around Jan. 11. They are reminding residents to act fast and separate their debris into appropriate piles.
"Look at this lot right here. We are still taking things out and it's been weeks so it might be taking months for everything to get cleaned back up," Curry said.
"It just seems like every day we just find new damage in the house so it is kind of tough. I'm thankful for what we've gotten done so far. I'm just hoping we get a little bit further much quicker," Kellie said.
To help make the process easier for the debris contractors, officials advise avoiding creating debris piles around mailboxes, power poles or low-hanging power lines.
Also, avoid placing household hazardous materials especially lithium batteries in your piles at the curb as that could potentially start a fire.