When Punta Gorda City Council members visit the Florida Legislature in Tallahassee during a committee week in February, one of their priorities will be requesting funding to purchase high-water rescue vehicles to be used during future flooding and natural disasters.
The Punta Gorda fire and police departments requested the purchase of several vehicles.
In a letter pre-dated Jan. 9, Mayor Debi Lux wrote to Charlotte County’s Legislative Delegation — state Sen. Ben Albritton and state Reps. Danny Nix and Vanessa Oliver — to explain why the equipment was needed.
Referring to a Lenco BearCat G3, she wrote the vehicle, loaned to the city by the North Port Police Department, was used during Hurricane Helene last year to help rescue 121 people who were stranded in their homes and vehicles.
At a cost of $358,000, the Lenco BearCat is a combined armored personnel carrier and high-water enclosed rescue vehicle that allows for the rescue of multiple people at a time, in addition to having enough room for four officers.
Lux wrote the vehicle has a seating capacity of 10 to 12 people and can drive through 40 inches of standing water, “allowing us to rescue stranded motorists and residents in their homes during hurricanes or the regular flooding in the city that occurs with heavy rainfall.”
The Punta Gorda Fire Department also recommended the city purchase a Zeal Motor Inc. Fat Truck 2.8 Wagon at a cost of $223,000. One was used during recent hurricanes and was loaned to the city by Supertrak Inc. of Punta Gorda.
The vehicle is enclosed and allows for the rescue of multiple victims at once, in addition to having enough room for rescuers. It has a seating capacity for eight people, two in the front and six at the rear. The vehicle is amphibious and can traverse dry or flooded areas, Lux wrote.
Other pieces of equipment — two swamp buggies and a Jon boat and trailer with a mud motor — were requested by the fire department. The cost for the vehicles is estimated at $172,000, and the Jon boat, trailer and mud motor is estimated at $9,000.
“The City Council will select either the swamp buggies and Jon boat or the Fat Truck for the fire department and the BearCat at the request of the police department,” Interim City Manager Melissa Reichert said.
In addition to the rescue vehicles, Lux said the city will request funding for several high-priority projects, including Tiger Dams for storm and flood mitigation and funding for the design of a recommended solution derived from the Downtown Flood Study.
Also, the city will seek funding for additional seawalls, pier, docks and pathways replacements and for lighting and electrical panels damaged during the hurricanes.
Funding is also being sought to convert aquifer storage and recovery wells to production wells, and to expand the city’s reverse osmosis water treatment plant.
Punta Gorda also seeks to acquire land to build a new Public Safety Center, in addition to advocating for funding for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather station.
