EAST HADDAM -- Many crews from Connecticut are helping residents of Florida recover.
Among the utility and medical professions, there are crews who are helping to clear trees. Jeffrey Grant, owner of G Forestry & Vegetation Management in East Haddam, left for Florida with a crew of workers on Wednesday.
Grant and his employees are volunteering their time to help with Irma cleanup. After about a week of volunteer work, they will begin doing work for business. "We have chainsaws, demo saws if we've got to cut people out of houses," said Grant. "We bring generators, compressors, a bunch of gas."
They spent their morning in Fort Pierce, after weathering through the storm. "We had 40 mile-per-hour winds," said Grant. 'Then, all of a sudden, 80 mile-per-hour winds."
He said he has seen people getting around in canoes and monster trucks, navigating roadways that look more like rivers.
Grant and his workers then headed southwest to Naples, prepared to help however they can. "Generally, we'll go around and take trees off of people's houses," said Grant. "That's normally the first thing that happens. [We] clear roadways for people."
Grant said they often volunteer with cleanup efforts after storms, having recently returned from Harvey cleanup in Houston.