Punta Gorda Isles residents dealing with debris ahead of Tropical Storm Rafael
"It's been a lot of work each time. And this one was messy because of all the mud," said Steve Herlin.
Herlin is working on getting his golf cart working after he says he finally got all of his house fixed up.
He and his neighbors can't believe they have to start preparing for more tropical weather.
"Were several people have had enough, and they're just going to leave, especially the older ones. It just is becoming too much. They're, they're going to move somewhere inland. Everybody's got something," said Herlin.
Herlin lives in the Windmill Village community. Right outside of the gate, you can see a huge pile of debris. It's not just there, driving around the city, it's clear Punta Gorda still has a lot of cleaning up to do after hurricanes Milton and Helene.
This week, the city of Punta Gorda said it's picking up debris on the north side of Punta Gorda Isles.
"We don't want any flooding because then that'll be all over the place. That's what happened at Halloween. They didn't get their stuff off. This road, next road over here. And then it floated all over the place," said resident Hank Sidok.
Tropical Storm Rafael is expected to impact the area this week.
People I talked to just want to put it out of their minds.
Crews are working on picking up hurricane debris in Burnt Store Meadows, and then they'll move to Burnt Store Isles.
We have seen people coming by Monday to add more to the piles. They say the roads are getting picked up pretty quickly and are just now waiting their turn.
