A ‘No Vacancy’ sign sits in-front of a partial building that is held up by beams. The building has multiple beds along with a dresser that has visible clothing.
“War Zone”: Four Weeks After Hurricane Ian the Fort Myers Community Starts to Rebuild
“My neighbor’s been here 40 years and he’s never had water in his pool. Now we get six feet of water in our house; it’s pretty incredible,” Fort Myers Beach resident Pat O’Brien said.
Fort Myers Beach, Fla. — Tragedy. It’s the only way to describe the amount of damage and livelihoods lost by hurricane Ian since it landed just four weeks ago. But from the ruins of barely held together buildings—that have many worried for their futures—was a connected community that came together.
Pat O’Brien was there when Ian hit, taking shelter in his home while the 150mph winds howled and rain fell heavily. He said, “I rode it out and I was here for six days afterwards because I couldn’t get off the island. My home is totally gutted; even sized down to the studs.”
O’Brien and many more were clearing and salvaging what they could from their homes; many left with nearly nothing. His neighbor Kim had difficulties even accessing the beach for two weeks after Ian had hit.
“It was closed, so I mean, we wouldn’t have a garbage pile like that if we were down here right away,” Kim said. “Five days with sitting in water it’s[many of her possessions] trashed.”
Kim stands in front of the remains of her living room.
Kim’s home still standing after the hurricane.
“The water surged; it flowed in and out. It was up the drywall like six feet,” Kim said.
A boat blown onto another boat during the hurricane sits behind a pool filled with murky water in the backyard of Kim’s house.
An upturned boat and a damaged fishing shop sit vacant next to scattered debris laying on the ground.
A little beach resort, ‘La Villa Resort’, is heavily damaged by hurricane Ian with the front wall on the porch and destruction to the buildings structure.
A store with boarded windows sits behind a pile of various debris from hurricane Ian.
A shed blown over from the wind lies on its side with wooden fragments on the ground next to it.
A toppled over building lies ruined on the ground with a broken sign that once told the name of a store.
A ‘road closed’ sign hangs on to the steel holding it up as the road still had water issues after the hurricane.
A boat blown into trees by hurricane Ian’s wind and rain is one of many boats that had gone onto land during Ian.
A closed 7-11 gas station has its windows boarded and pumps taped off.
A concrete barrier in ruins leans up a concrete sign ‘Leonardo Arms’ that went with a business behind it.
A taped off apartment building that got damaged sits deserted with many of the inside possessions lying next to it.
A sandal factory store had its insides reduced to just the beams holding up the roof as the windows and walls were heavily effected by hurricane Ian.
A local home was blown completely over to the point that its walls had blown inside itself and the roof collapsed sits next to a pile of various belongings from inside the remains of the home.
A house stands behind a torn United States flag with boarded windows and doors having some damage to the exterior.
A ‘No Vacancy’ sign sits in-front of a partial building that is held up by beams. The building has multiple beds along with a dresser that has visible clothing.
An extremely battered car sits on the side of the road in a parking lot.
Though Kim wasn’t the only one to experience issues as she explained, “[O’Brien] just had his water on. Now it’s off because they say he can’t turn it on until he gets electric and all this other stuff.”
Services, such as electricity and water, are vital to setting up the infrastructure needed to rebuild the island which could only be done through clearing up the mess in the roads to provide paths of transportation onto the beach.
James is one of the servicemen that has been helping “since day one. We’ve cleared the roads for emergency personnel and search and rescue to be able to do their jobs and just to gain access to the whole area.”
Even though they have come a long way since the beginning, as he explained it looked like a “war zone”, tragedy was still prevalent.
Through James’ efforts on the beach he has realized that “quite a few people have experienced total—total loss. They’ve lost their homes, their belongings, their memories, everything,” he said. “So there’s been quite a bit of a big impact on the people here on Fort Myers Beach.”
So many people on the island lost their home where they live, their business, their employment.
— Fort Myers Beach Resident Kim
Despite the damage to material possessions, Kim stated that “the people really come together. The people are really nice. The Red Cross brought us lunch every day. It’s one of those things that with tragedy it really does restore your faith in humanity.”
The community stayed intact even after the hurricane in large part because, as O’Brien said, “this is our home. This is where we’re staying.”
Although Smoky Hill is in Colorado, we can do our part as a school in assisting those who were unfortunately impacted by hurricane Ian. There are numerous places that are helping out on the ground; to donate to some of these organizations you can click here.
