I had an event: "storm washed debris onto beach". Now my villagers can't fish and I can't get anyone to clear the debris. I'm close to the end of the game. Is there anything I can do? Thanks.

You might try either waiting awhile, or quitting the game and starting it back up again.

I noticed this as well with my game, you need a builder to acually start the process. no matter how many people you put on there it wont register untill you put on a builder. once you have a builder start the process, any villager can help