Crews continue to clean algae from Cape canals

It still looks pretty bad, but crews say they will be back Wedenesday to clean up the rest.

But there are a lot of canals in Cape Coral, and neighbors are already getting impatient.

“Our canal is horrific,” said Cape Coral resident Dolores Munroe. “When I say horrific, the smell is so bad you just wanna puke.”

Munroe came to see the technology crews are using to clean up the green gunk at the Cape Coral Yacht Club.

Munroe said it’s needed more in her neighborhood at the Bimini Canal.

“Here you’re not having people that live here. I’m living right there on the canal where it is bad,” Munroe said. “So how soon will it take to get to where we are to be able to clean it up so that health wise it doesn’t effect us upper respiratory or anything else.”

Many are also worried it’s a temporary solution to a bigger problem.

“I think that its necessary that we clean it the best we can,” said Cape Coral resident Huguette Haaland. “But the problem is it will keep occurring as lake o releases more and more water.”

“The best solution would be stopping the cause of the algae what’s generating it to bloom and expand,” said Cape Coral resident Beverly Paris.

But the county says they’re doing what they can with the $700,000 grant for clean up and safe removal. They started in North Fort Myers and will continue to locations not yet announced.

“Cape Coral is our home,” Paris said. “We’re very sad with what’s going on here.”

“When rainy season is over I know that we will recover a bit but next year it’ll be the same problem. the problems get worse and worse every summer,” Haaland said.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection urges residents to keep reporting algal blooms.

Call 855-305-3903 or click here to report a bloom.