Hurricane Ian left behind abandoned boats. This resulted in one marina’s business shifting from recreational to restorative.

It’s been almost four months since Hurricane Ian hit the coast of Florida, leaving a horrific trail of destruction in its wake. And the cleaning is far from over.

According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Commissionthere are over 700 abandoned boats in the area, but only two-thirds have been removed.

“It’s still amazing how many ships have been completely moved – in the mangroves, just pushed into places where they shouldn’t be, in people’s backyards,” said Stacey Stephens, property manager Monroe Canal Marina in Saint James City, Florida. Ever since Yen landed at the end of September, work on her pier has gone from leisure to leisure.

“It was heartbreaking to see how 15 years of building a business were wiped out in practically, I would even say, 24 hours,” Stephens told CBS News. “One day it was good, and the next day it was completely gone.”

The only charter boat fishing at present is crane fishing for badly damaged boats out of the water.

The cleanup continues four months after a Category 4 storm devastated Florida’s Gulf Coast. CBS News

Many end up at Stevens Wharf, which has now been turned into an emergency room, where they are stacked, catalogued and checked by insurance companies.

This new line of work has allowed her to remain open and support the work of her employees.

Transportation of a sailboat on a flatbed truck. CBS News

One gigantic sailboat, freshly beached, has been loaded onto a platform that will gently move the hull to an adjacent field, to what was once Stevens’ palm nursery and is now a makeshift boat graveyard. There, row after row, more than 200 ships and several mini-yachts await their fate.

Boat graveyard. CBS News

As cleanup work continues in southwest Florida after a storm, Rob Mang found his neighbor’s 65-foot boat. Taboowhere he shouldn’t be: settled in his backyard after a storm tore him off the dock.

“It was a complete shock,” he said. “She looked bigger than we ever thought because now she’s half on land and half in our backyard.”

And he’ll be there for a few more weeks; on the Gulf Coast of Florida, there is a long waiting list for boat towing services.

Jim Beyer’s 65-foot boat “Taboo” washed up in his neighbor’s backyard. CBS News

As for the owner of the Taboo, Jim Beyer, the price of hauling and repairing the damaged boat is too high, so the insurance company will come and tow the Taboo.

“I contacted them and they said it would be $16,200 to lift it up there with a huge barge and a crane. [just to] pick it up and put it in the water,” Beyer said.

Andrés Rosado spent over two months cleaning up Jan’s mess, towing damaged boats left on the water (and underwater) to dry land.

“I really hope to be busy for maybe a few more months,” Rosado said. “It’s hard to say how long we’re going to be doing this. I hope we have the same amount of time to clean up this entire environment.”

But like many in this part of Florida, Rosado just wants to go back to a time when swimming on the water wasn’t a job.

“I want to go back to what was normal and it was boaters enjoying restaurants, enjoying the beach, enjoying Southwest Florida,” Rosado said.

Andres Rosado towing the boat. CBS News

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