It’s been six months since Hurricane Ian wrecked the west coast of Florida. Clean-up continues, however know-how is rushing up the method and making it safer.

The know-how that was getting used after Hurricane Michael and now’s serving to clear up Hurricane Ian.

Sonar gear and radio-controlled boats are serving to to find hundreds of items of particles hidden within the water.

“Construction equipment. There were either full or partial roofs that were submerged; cars, boats pretty much anything that could have been uprooted from the storm,” stated Capt. Adam Feiner with Pembroke Pines Police Department.

Gulf Coast State College in Panama City created a program referred to as TEMPEST. The state of Florida partnered the school with native legislation enforcement like Fort Lauderdale Police, the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Pembroke Pines Police. Together utilizing the newest know-how they discover particles hidden below the water and take away it.

“It’s essentially an RC boat. A radio-controlled boat and they can get it into narrow waterways or shallow waterways, where we could get a better picture of what the ground looked like and what debris was there without the risk to the watercraft to have to drive in there,” defined David Thomasee, the Executive Director of Operations at Gulf Coast State College.

Using unmanned boats, a bit of kit referred to as a tow-fish and facet sonar, crews can safely discover the objects that must be eliminated.

“It’s a very hard task, but working together was a team our police officers are able to identify over 2,100 individual targets,” Feiner stated.

The know-how hurries up the method nevertheless it nonetheless takes lots of manpower. Pembroke Pines Police say it labored for 5 weeks. Each officer was on web site for seven days working 16-18 hours a day and scanning greater than 600 miles of water in Collier and Lee County.

“They started when the sun rose. They ended when the sun set,” Feiner stated. “We do whatever we can as a whole to make these waterways safer for everyone who is going to use them in the future because recreational boaters or anyone who is on the water could find these waterways difficult to navigate.”

The heavy lifting is finished, however there’s nonetheless work being finished to take away the particles left within the water from Ian.