Hurricane Ian ravages Southwest Florida

By Lauren Broom

Hurricane Ian dramatically affected pool professionals in many parts of Florida. The Category 4 hurricane brought a high storm surge, high winds up to 140 mph, and high rainfall amounts to the southwest Florida area. Central Florida and some areas along the east coast of Florida dealt with large amounts of rainfall that also caused flooding into buildings. The most impacted area was in southwest Florida, where pool professionals are dealing with cleanup of swimming pools after these pools were flooded and destroyed by the force of the storm. They are also having to clean up their own homes and businesses from the same damage.

The brute force of the hurricane can be seen from the pictures that have been posted by many southwest Florida pool professionals on social media. Fences can be seen blown over from the hurricane-force winds and pools turned green or contaminated with sea water from the storm surge. Parking lots and pool decks have been damaged and, in some cases, completely washed away. Pools are laden with storm debris that has sunk to the bottom.

Pool professionals are finding some

On September 28, 2022 Hurricane Ian made landfall, devestating Florida. Image above is from Fort Myers, FL, 22 miles inland- of a private pool screen collapsing. Photo Credit: Jeffrey Murphy. Join the effort to help — Visit Basecrete & Danila Bonazza Art & Mosaics Hurricane Ian. https://basecretecares.com. pools with high salt concentrations from the infiltration of sea water.

Robert James Weissenborn reported a pool in southwest Florida in which he tested a salt concentration of 8,200 ppm.

Pool professionals facing this scenario are forced to partially drain water and refill the pool.

Mangled pool screen enclosures or cages are a very common site now in southwest Florida.

The cleanup after Hurricane Ian will be felt by local pool professionals for many months or years.

Currently, there is a Hurricane Ian Hurricane Relief Fund being collected. The Hurricane Relief fundraiser is sponsored by Basecrete Inc. along with its owner, Vito Mariano, and Danila Bonazza Art & Mosaics, which have dedicated their resources to raise funds for local pool professionals who have either lost their local businesses or homes to the storm.

If you are interested in donating to this fundraiser, go to the following website: Basecrete & Danila Bonazza Art & Mosaics Hurricane Ian. https:// basecretecares.com.