Hurricane Irma

Fretwired

Emp_Fab said:

Why are all the boats on stilts?

Have a guess ... to protect them from a tidal surge which would have wrecked them .. :-)

chillidoggy

Emp_Fab said:

Why are all the boats on stilts?

They're electric boat lifts. It's to keep them out of the salt/brackish water, getting bashed about by waves or wakes, and from becoming stained brown by the high levels of tannins in the water from the mangroves.

It's like tea round here until you get into the Gulf, because the water in the Caloosahatchee river drains down from the Everglades, and also starts from a big fuck-off lake called Okeechobee in the middle of Florida.*




*I failed geography, so I thought that was pretty good, actually.

aord43

I was surprised to see the boats in place..did they survive the storm or have they been put back afterwards?

chillidoggy

We went up a few of the canals yesterday evening, and it appears the vast majority of boats survived whilst up on their boat lifts. There were a few lifts that had collapsed, and boats sunk, but surprisingly few. The biggest issue for a lot of people is the 'sea wall' at the foot of their gardens which looks like a concrete wall, has collapsed. I'm told it's a $1,000 perfect foot to fix them, we counted 40 in our travels.