Tiki Island, Jamaica Beach begin canal cleanup

As work crews slowly pulled a mud-filled live bait well from the depths of the Tiki Island Marina on Saturday, Charlie Everts couldn’t help but smile.

“This is a great day,” the mayor of Tiki Island said. “Truly a great day. I am thrilled to death.”

Recovery from Hurricane Ike in the small community just north of the Galveston Causeway has been steady since the storm passed. Street debris was cleared in days, and the debris on private property for the most part was cleared in less than two months.

Still, tons of debris remain under the surface of the city’s 11 miles of canals — but not for long.

Crews from Crowder-Gulf arrived with boats to begin cleaning the canals early Saturday morning, less than 24 hours after the Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed that the federal government would pick up the tab.

“We’ve been ready since mid-October (for the canal cleanup),” Everts said. “We had to work through all the issues, and it took a long time, but with the help of a lot of good people we got her done.”

The issues Everts referred to were the steps it took to get FEMA to pay for the cleanup. It is doubtful Tiki Island could have paid to clear the underwater debris.

The cleanup is vital for this city, Everts said. Boat access to Galveston Bay is what attracts buyers of homes built on canals. The same could be said for the county’s other canal communities, including Old Bayou Vista, Omega Bay, Bayou Vista and Jamaica Beach.

Cleanup in Jamaica Beach got under way Thursday, Mayor Vic Pierson said. The first thing to be cleaned up there by the contractors from DRC was a house that had been pushed into one of the canals.

“They had chain saws and everything to get it out of there,” Pierson said. “That was a major blockage.”

Robert Brosh, the canal cleanup project manager for Crowder-Gulf, said the debris clearing in Tiki should take about three weeks. At first, crews will focus on the Tiki Island Marina.

Brosh said his crews will use that area as a staging spot to transfer the debris from the canals to trucks that will haul it to a landfill.

The first piece of debris pulled from the waters was the large, plastic tub that had been a live bait well at the marina.

There’s plenty more under the water.

“You have rooftops, steps, blown-out walls, golf carts, stuff like that,” Brosh said.

From Tiki Island, Brosh’s crews will move on to the canals in the unincorporated parts of the county.

Bayou Vista and Omega Bay have yet to get on the schedule, as the Municipal Utility District No. 12 told The Daily News last week that it did not have funding approval from FEMA.

MUD 12 officials cautioned that the process would not start any time soon, even after assurances by city officials in public meetings that the cleanup would be done by the end of April.

Under its agreement with FEMA, Tiki has to have the debris work completed by April 26 to be eligible for the full funding from the federal government, Everts said.

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Canal Cleanup

Residents of Tiki Island should remove fish lights, crab traps or any other submerged items from beneath their docks or boat houses until the debris cleanup is complete. Call Tiki Island City Hall, 409-935-1427.

Online: See the Between the Lines blog at galvnews.com for a video report on Tiki Island canal cleanup.