`Swampy' Stench Haunts Florida's Orange Farms Devastated By Ian
Farmers are making their first assessments of what hurricane destruction will mean for the state’s iconic $6.7 billion citrus industry.
Oranges damaged during Hurricane Ian at the Mixon Fruit Farms orchard in Bradenton, Florida.
Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/BloombergThe waters have receded, but the stink lingers. As Emma Reynolds Ezell surveys the damage that a night of 100 mile-per-hour winds wrought on her orange groves, she just can’t get over the stench. It’s nothing like the usual sweet citrus scent that drifts on the breeze. Instead, it’s “swampy:” The putrid odor of oozing mud that’s filled the local ditches after the waters of nearby Lake Placid overflowed in the torrential rains.
It’s been about a week since Ian struck. One of the worst hurricanes to ever hit the US, the storm left millions of Florida homes without power, sparked a devastating storm surge and left dozens dead. And only now are farmers finally able to make some of their first assessments of what the destruction will mean for the state’s iconic $6.7 billion citrus industry.