PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Punta Gorda is working on repairing more than seven miles of collapsed seawalls. Hurricane Ian knocked out seawalls on hundreds of properties.
“We were going to be at a point where the house might be a risk over time,” Tim Buch said.
Damage is so bad that Buch’s backyard has only about a foot and a half of yard left before it drops down sharply into the canal below.
“It’s been a real engineering challenge,” Buch said as he explained crews are working to preserve the dock he had installed right before the hurricane.
Over the past nine months, a barge coming to his yard was a sight he was excited to see. He didn’t know when it was coming…until the contracts were complete.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Punta Gorda to begin repair work on miles of hurricane-damaged seawalls
“We were just waiting forever to see that barge come down the canal. We couldn’t believe it when we finally saw it, we were so excited,” Buch said.
“This is going to be a long road and we are really excited it’s moving forward,” Chris Fankhauser said.
Fankhauser is the community outreach coordinator for the public works department. She said hundreds of homes have work that needs to be completed. The process is expected to take at least 18 months.
“This first month or so is going to be just everybody getting their groove on so to speak and then once we get rolling with it, it’ll be a lot smoother process,” she said.
Three different companies are working throughout sections of the city to get the work done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
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