Recent rain storms clog South Florida canals with debris

SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. ā€“ Some South Florida canals are looking more like weed fields these days thanks to the recent rain storms that have clogged them up with debris.

Drone 10 video shows how some canals can become quickly covered in the annoying weeds.

"How bad will this get if you don't take care of it?" Local 10 News reporter Todd Tongen asked Brian Boyd of Broward Central Water Management District Operations.

"Probably by August, you would be able to walk across there and probably not go past your ankles, it would be so thick," he said.

Boyd has three two-man crews working five days a week to try and manage canal vegetation.

He said the record rainfall recently in the area may be the reason it seems to have gotten so bad so quickly.

"Especially after the large rain we had two weeks ago. It washes all the nutrients into the canal," Boyd said. "You have cow manure, horse manure, fertilizers, everything ends up in the canal.

"It just explodes the weeds. They get that nutrient in there and they will shoot up overnight."

Experts said East Indian hygrophila can grow an inch a day, whichĀ  can strangle the flow of water.

Boyd's crews can cover 15 miles of canals a day.

Meanwhile, the southern district crews use boats to spray safe amounts of chemicals in larger, deeper canals.

"We have seen an increase in algae in the last five years," Boyd said.

Boyd said they have also seen different types of algae in recent years.

"They can be a big problem too, because the stuff can grow in large wads and it will also plug a pipe," he said.

Boyd said water management crews use specialized back hoes with extended booms to clear critical canals so the water can properly draw down and South Floridians can be prepared for the next deluge.

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