By Jane Smith
Linda Cross, who lives in the Marina Villages condo complex in Boynton Beach, said her family lost power the morning of Sept. 11for about 90 minutes.
"We had power the entire time of the storm ," she said. "The water flowed over the sea wall only half of what was expected." Her condo complex sits near the Intracoastal Waterway overlooking the Ocean Avenue Bridge.
She lives on the sixth floor of a 16-story building. As with other high rises, the management company sent the elevators to the top floor at 9 a.m. Saturday and then turned them off at 2 p.m.
"That's done," Cross said, "to avoid flooding the elevator shafts.
Her family won't drive around today because the traffic lights are not working.
"It can be crazy when drivers don't treat each intersection (with a non-working traffic light) as a Four-way stop," she said.
Also in Boynton Beach, Harry Woodworth owns a home along the Intracoastal.
He lost power early Sunday morning, "just after he poured a cup of coffee," he said.
His family "hunkered down" Sunday while the storm approached.
Today, Woodworth and his son are doing cleanup.
One tree was split down the middle and one coconut palm broke at its base.
"We had only tropical storm winds, but some of the gusts were killer," Woodworth said.
As a former Motorola executive, he is a gadget-geek with two generators — a small one that runs the refrigerator and entertainment system that powers the big-screen TV. He also has a whole house one that is quite noisy.
He will run that one during the day only to allow his neighbors to sleep at night.
He also has a camper in his driveway where they can sleep and eat in the comfort of air-conditioning.
Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County - HURRICANE IRMA UPDATE 4 Sept. 11, 2017 at 5:15 p.m.
Contact: Willie Puz, Public Affairs and Recycling, 561-640-8914 (o); 561-379-2405 (c)
Garbage collection resumes in PBC; SWA urges residents to separate waste piles
With the storm now passed, most Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County collection facilities will be open and accepting waste. Garbage collection will resume in unincorporated parts of the county as of 6 a.m. Tuesday (Sept 12).
However, recycling collection and vegetation collection WILL NOT resume as normal. The SWA’s Recovered Materials Processing Facility is without power and cannot process any recyclables that come in. The SWA will advise the public and the haulers when we are able to receive recyclables.
So that means Garbage Only collection until further notice.
The SWA’s transfer stations, the landfill and the waste-to-energy facilities will be open regular business hours tomorrow, Sept. 12. Municipalities are advised to seek the advice of their debris management consultants prior to delivering vegetation/storm debris to the SWA’s facilities, as doing so may complicate FEMA reimbursement.
The SWA is in the process of setting up Temporary Debris Management Sites for the receipt and processing of storm debris for municipalities and debris contractors. These sites are not available to the general public. The SWA will provide regular updates on the status of the opening of these sites.
All residents can help clean up our community by placing their waste and debris in three separate piles at the curb:
1. Put garbage and recyclables out by 6 a.m. on your regularly scheduled day. These will be picked up first.
2. Put all vegetation only in a second pile.
3. And, put all other construction storm debris in a third pile.
Be sure to keep these three piles separate and away from:
• Fences
• Mailboxes
• Power line equipment, poles, transformers, downed electrical wiring
• Water meters
• Fire hydrants or
• Storm drains
(Watch the SWA commercial on separating your waste piles - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3DidlwGeVYU64&d=DwIF-g&c=JMJxdiofvjJKeebMXBrIn8vDKQGaIrsQQJbzDQHviG0&r=6b9rMWcU-VZUcMHYJ2y1QcUjyDIgbntmkrh1dpgchCg&m=pvmbZZPWsacJrrS7JaEYY0C7vLfT1Ef983qo0MfiKXM&s=Wwe9z4-Gj3mEpMaPglWfX8NiqdIMaw2Gf3vVouLjZN0&e= )
There is no rush for residents to get all their storm debris to the curb. Debris collection vehicles will begin collecting debris later this week and will make multiple passes until all debris is picked up.
The SWA urges all residents to be patient as collection efforts resume. It may be weeks before the first collection of vegetation and construction storm debris reaches everyone.
Visit SWA.org/Hurricane for more information.
NOTE: There will be no reimbursement provided to any individual resident or homeowner association who hires a private contractor to remove and dispose of their vegetation and construction storm-related debris.
Comments