As Cedar Key gets it bearings, demolition workers ready to move in

CEDAR KEY — Stay or go? Charlie Freeman, a Louisiana demolition worker, was facing a dilemma Saturday like the one Gulf Coast residents contemplated just a few days earlier when Hurricane Helene had them in her sights.

Luckily, though, this one would not mean life or death.

The 40-year-old veteran of hurricane cleanups too numerous to count was weighing just how much of an opportunity he would be giving up on Cedar Key if he went back for his equipment. His truck had been left at the entrance; he was only able to get on the island because he slipped in with a roofer whose client had gone to the police checkpoint to give permission for his entry.

Going back for his stuff, he might not be able to get back on the island, he explained.

“Right now, we're just demo-ing the parts that are falling off and getting them to the road," Freeman said, who’s working for his cousin’s business and drove here last night. “We haven't done any full demolitions.”

Workers like him are not being allowed on the island en masse because many of the island’s homeowners are not here. At least that’s what he was told, he explained. His company’s first set of equipment he was working with Saturday morning, a skid steer and a grapple, got on the island before they started checking passes, he explained.

“They're trying to give the homeowners a chance to get here and assess everything before they let the public in,” he said.

Cedar Key Mayor Susan Colson said she was too busy with recovery to talk to a reporter.

Freeman said he sees a lot of opportunity in Helene’s wreckage.

“There’s a lot of work here,” he said, glancing at a row of flattened houses. By 2 p.m., he’d at least started on two of them.

Anne Geggis is the insurance reporter at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at ageggis@gannett.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: As Cedar Key recovers, demolition workers stand at the ready