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Fay-soaked Golden Gate Estates prepares for the possibility of Ike
Debris pick-up
Residents of unincorporated areas of Collier County, the City of Marco Island, and the City of Everglades City with piles of Tropical Storm Fay-related debris still to be collected are asked to call Collier County’s Solid Waste Management Department at 252-2380 and report the location of the pile. Residents should move their storm-related debris to the right-of-way in front of their property no later than Sunday, then call 252-2380 and report the pile for collection. Residents who can’t gather and pile storm-related debris in the right-of-way by Sunday because of standing flood water should call 252-2380 so the waste can be collected later.
■ Do not place debris piles near mailboxes, parked cars, fire hydrants, street lamps, utility boxes/poles, or other obstacles. A contractor will be using heavy lifting equipment to collect the yard waste and placing piles too near a mailbox or other object could result in damage.
■ Do not use plastic bags for yard waste. Yard waste in plastic bags will not be collected.
■ Do not mix garbage or construction/demolition debris with the yard waste.
■ Debris will not be collected from private roads, commercial property, or gated communities.
■ Horticulture debris must be separated from construction debris and bulky items.
■ Horticulture debris must be brown. Fresh green horticulture debris has been deemed ineligible. FEMA monitors will inspect debris piles for compliance. If a debris pile is deemed ineligible (non-storm related), it will not be collected.
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NAPLES — Tropical Storm Fay came, saw and soaked Golden Gate Estates.
But now with nearly two months left in the 2008 Hurricane season, Estates’ residents worries have shifted to Hurricane Ike — how much water the system could drop on the area and how much wind damage it could cause.
With so many trees and vegetation, the cleanup in the Estates started soon after Fay and continued this week.
Now with Hurricane Ike possibly heading to Southwest Florida, many are rushing to finish clearing the mess made by Tropical Storm Fay.
“The problem we’ve got, is there is stuff (plant debris piles) still all over the Estates,” said Mark Teaters, with the Homeowners Association of Golden Gate Estates.
County contractors started collecting the piles of storm-related yard waste Aug. 25. The debris collection is expected to continue through Sunday.
“If we can get residents to call us, we can send trucks out specifically to those areas,” said Margie Hapke, spokeswoman for Collier County Public Utilities Division.
Hapke added, that the county hopes to be completely done with the clean up by Monday, in preparation of Hurricane Ike.
Flooding was a major fear as Tropical Storm Fay approached, said Teaters, but with most residents’ homes built higher there wasn’t wide spread flooding inside houses.
“A lot of people lost small stuff,” said Teaters. “Small buildings (sheds), car covers, one guy even had a tree fall on the windshield of his truck. But I haven’t seen any major roof damage.”
Days after Tropical Storm Fay, water was still high in many of the canals that crisscross the Estates and standing water still lined many of the area’s streets.
But resident Felicia Brown, 40, said there was an upside to the tide having pushed water up the canals: It brought a lively silver lining to end her week.
“It (the canal) is full of tarpon,” said Brown, while fishing off the Golden Gate Canal.
Brown, a Collier native, said she had never seen the water so high or seen tarpon that far inland.
She added that her house, off Second Avenue S.E., had become an island, but that there was no real damage to her property.
“Our neighborhood was not that bad,” said Brown. “They (the county) responded really quickly.”
It was the same story near Elba Vina’s home, off Randall Boulevard.
“There was a lot of water,” said Vina, 49, who added that no one from the county had come by to check on residents. “The electricity went out at 4:30 a.m. (Aug. 19), returned noon (Aug. 20).”
Both Brown and Vina agreed that the Estates didn’t get the brunt of Fay.
Nevertheless, summer afternoon storms have kept dumping water on the area, Teaters said. He noticed the canals seemed to be going down Friday as Hurricane Ike continued making its way toward Florida.
“Unfortunately you can’t wave that magic wand and make that water go away in a couple of hours,” said Teaters, chalking up the lower canals to preparations by the South Florida Water Management District. “Either way we’re going to get rain and we’re going to get wind too. A storm is still a storm.”
After Fay, Collier County’s Emergency Management coordinator Jim von Rinteln, said it could have been much worse.
And although they’re not as powerful as hurricanes, tropical storms are nothing to sneeze at either, von Rinteln said.
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So Mark Teeters is still involved with leadership in the Estates. Good to see. I was impressed about the tarpon! Wow, interesting fishing.
Not that I am wild about the idea of fishing in the canals, but tarpon fishing this far inland would be fun.
#1 Posted by BlueTonguedVole on September 5, 2008 at 9:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Cocohatchee canal was plugged with an earthen "dam" until Monday afternoon before Fay.
Neither the WMD or the county had a clue. I emailed Coletta on Sunday evening who contacted both Tears and Mudd before this became a disaster. Don't believe me? I have the e-trail to prove it. Why did the water stand for a week and a half? We'll never know.
#2 Posted by swampbuggy on September 5, 2008 at 10:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Most of the road-side ditches are so shallow with erosion of their sides into the bottoms now that yards can't even drain properly. Mine can't.
#3 Posted by pauls on September 6, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
swampbuggy, we believe you!
Tears and SFWMD are a testament to an authority who taxes us but has no accountability to us. A truly ridiculous situation. Would throwing tea into the canals make a point? (only kidding...) I am sick and tired of this taxation without representation!
pauls, I know that some ditches aka swales are maintained by the county road and bridge dept. I have found this is one department which does seem to want to respond to the public's concerns. Try giving them a call. In the recent past our neighbors called and got a very quick response. The swales were altered slightly and the drainage problem we had on one part of our street is gone.
EPA has a great fact sheet on swales (one of the most common methods of handling storm water). Check it out (Adobe PDF)
http://www.epa.gov/owmitnet/mtb/vegsw...
#4 Posted by BlueTonguedVole on September 6, 2008 at 10:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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