Sarasota city officials says debris could take six months to clear

The city of Sarasota’s emergency manager estimates Hurricane Ian was responsible for twice the damage to trees and other landscaping than 2017’s Hurricane Irma, and that, he says, will take a while to gather and dispose of.  

“Our debris contractors estimate that there's 150,000 to 200,000 cubic yards of landscape debris,” Todd Kerkering says, in a story in the Sarasota Observer, sister paper of the Business Observer. “That is double the amount of (Hurricane) Irma. It took us a little over three months to get Irma cleaned up. I would anticipate since it's double, it could take us up to six months to get every street cleared and cleaned up.”