Neighbors worried about seawall damages from hurricane

Reporter: Breana Ross Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Credit: WINK News.

Many homeowners in Southwest Florida live along seawalls. People who lived in the area during Hurricane Irma in 2017 had a lot of damage occur around their homes and along those seawalls, leading to expensive repairs.

And those seawalls are important for those who live along them, as they provide added protection during a major event like a hurricane.

For homeowners like Willie Herman in Cape Coral, Irma hit him not once but twice — first his seawall and then his wallet.

“It was 45-50 grand by the time it was said and done,” Herman said.

And neighbors in Cape Coral are not confident their seawalls will survive another storm.

“Since Irma and seeing that activity, I definitely am paying a lot more attention to my seawall and anything that could impact it,” Chambers said.

We previously reported the city is also considering new standards for seawalls that could make prices go up for homeowners along them.

MORE: Professional says Cape Coral seawall proposal costly for homeowners

“I actually recently did even email the City of Cape Coral about concerns about some of the new ordinances around repairs and things like that,” Scott Chambers said. “Because there’s potential increased cost.”

The city told us it won’t consider changes to seawall standards in Cape for several months. If council approves any changes, the city said there will be a grace period before the changes take effect. City leaders said they don’t anticipate storm surge to be a threat to seawalls, but emergency management is closely monitoring the hurricane.

A representative from Honc Marine in Cape told us he does not expect to see anymore damages to seawalls from Hurricane Dorian compared to our typical thunderstorms. But aging seawalls are prone to damage from any storm. That’s why Chambers said he has his checked ahead of the hurricane season.

“I’m trying to be more proactive with having it reviewed to make sure things appear to be sound,” Chambers said.

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