Four years earlier than Category 4 Ian worn out components of southwest Florida, the state’s Panhandle had its personal encounter with a fair stronger hurricane, Michael. The Category 5 storm all however destroyed one city, fractured 1000’s of properties and companies and did some $25 billion in harm.
With harm from Ian estimated at a number of occasions that and the Fort Myers space starting a cleanup that might be even bigger than after Michael, the 2 areas are collaborating on a method ahead as south Florida residents surprise what their space will seem like in a number of years.
Mayor Greg Brudnicki and different leaders from a rebuilt Panama City traveled to the southwestern coast this week on the request of Gov. Ron DeSantis to assist officers plan a method ahead. Keeping crews and vehicles in the realm to take away mountains of particles is job No. 1 as a result of all different progress hinges on that, Brudnicki mentioned, and that may imply acquiring loans as a bridge till federal reimbursement cash reveals up.
“You can’t fix anything until you get it cleaned up,” Brudnicki mentioned.
Tiny Mexico Beach, which was almost leveled by Michael in 2018, nonetheless has fewer constructions and folks than it did earlier than the storm. The city’s mayor, Al Cathey, mentioned one of many largest challenges recovering from a pure catastrophe is prime: wanting forward, not again.
With little left in city after Michael, Cathey mentioned, residents gathered every day at a transportable kitchen to map out the way in which ahead after the hurricane, and there was an unwritten rule.
“When we had our afternoon meetings at the food truck, all we talked about is, `What are we going to do tomorrow?’ — not what didn’t get done four days ago,” Cathey mentioned.
Michael was blamed for greater than 30 deaths. With greater than 100 fatalities, Ian was the third-deadliest storm to hit the U.S. mainland this century behind Hurricane Katrina, which left about 1,400 folks useless, and Hurricane Sandy, which killed 233 regardless of weakening to a tropical storm simply earlier than landfall.
Recovery might be extra difficult in southwest Florida than it was in the Panhandle due to inhabitants, Cathey mentioned. Bay County, which incorporates Panama City and Mexico Beach, has solely 180,000 residents, whereas Lee County, the place the Fort Myers space is situated, is house to nearly 790,000 folks, lots of whom are retirees.
Simply eradicating the boats that had been thrown onto land round Lee County might take months, and there are the stays of properties and companies scattered by 155 mph (250 kph) winds or flooded by seawater that surged miles inland alongside creeks and canals.
One of the broken vessels and waterlogged properties belongs to Mike Ford, who’s braced for a protracted restoration that might change the character of the realm.
The flooded-out cell house park the place Ford lives — one in every of lots of of such communities in the area — can be higher off as an RV park the place folks can come and go than as a everlasting neighborhood, he mentioned. Residents is perhaps ripe for a buyout or conversion after Ian, notably since he and others had to restore harm after Hurricane Irma in 2017.
“I’ve got enough money to rebuild, but I can’t see it because what I’ve (already) done is rebuild, and now this happened,” mentioned Ford, who misplaced a helpful assortment of guitars and Beatles data to Ian. “It kind of takes the wind out of you.”
A neighbor of Ford’s, Chuck Wagner, mentioned some folks already are getting annoyed after Ian. Many southwest Florida residents are retirees who solely reside in the realm half the 12 months, spending the new summers in the north, and so they’re listening to that assist won’t be accessible to part-time residents.
“Everything is up in the air,” he mentioned. “It might take years. Who knows?”
In Mexico Beach, Tom Wood, 82, is proof that progress will occur — slowly and painfully.
His beachfront enterprise, the Driftwood Inn, was blown aside and full of ocean water when Michael made landfall with sustained winds of 160 mph (258 kph) on Oct. 10, 2018. Initially, he mentioned, the one logical step appeared to be giving up.
But the storm handed and the Gulf nonetheless beckoned, Wood mentioned, so he determined to rebuild. The new Driftwood Inn reopened in June with 24 rooms at its unique location after a $13 million outlay and quite a bit complications from insurance coverage, authorities laws and contractors.
Mexico Beach nonetheless desperately wants a grocery retailer to keep away from the greater than 10-mile (16-kilometer) drive to the closest one, he mentioned, and a pharmacy and extra eating places can be good. But wanting again, Wood mentioned, he believes he made the fitting choice to rebuild and hopes folks in Fort Myers Beach do the identical.
“I am so glad that we did it, not only us but for the town,” he mentioned. “It just makes the town better, I think.”
Photo: Tom Wood, proprietor of the Driftwood Inn in Mexico Beach, Florida, final week. Destroyed by Hurricane Michael 4 years in the past, the resort reopened earlier this 12 months. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
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Catastrophe
Natural Disasters
Florida
Hurricane