From trees getting ripped out of the ground to signs being ripped apart, traffic lights crashing onto roadways and some buildings simply being destroyed, the impact was everywhere and almost nothing was spared. The only difference between one place and the next was the severity of the problems.
“We will get through this,” said Vice Mayor Richard Johnson of Sanibel, Florida. “And we’ll come out on the other side better than we were going in.”
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Perhaps, but it will be a massive undertaking, ranging from the cosmetic to the crucial and everything in between.
Fort Myers Beach is, quite simply, destroyed. Businesses are gone. Jobs are obviously lost, at least temporarily. The cleanup will take weeks and that will almost certainly have to precede any rebuilding efforts.
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A boat pushes against a Fort Myers apartment after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022, Florida. Brenda Brennan, pictured, said the boat floated in around 7pm.
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Boats are left stranded on the shore in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, on Sept. 29, 2022. Hurricane Ian left much of coastal southwest Florida in darkness early on Thursday, bringing “catastrophic” flooding that left officials readying a huge emergency response to a storm of rare intensity.
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Cars make their way through a flooded street in the wake of Hurricane Ian, Sept. 29, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage.
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Lew Hendrix collects palm branches blown down by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian in Tampa, Florida, Sept. 28, 2022.
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Carol Nies, left, and Heidi Smith survey damage left by Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers, Florida, Sept. 29, 2022.
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Streets signs are down in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Punta Gorda, Florida on Sept. 29, 2022.
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Boats are pushed up on a causeway after Hurricane Ian passed through the area, Sept. 29, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain to the area causing severe damage.
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A lit portrait of Che Guevara is seen in Revolution Square during a blackout in Havana, Sept. 29, 2022. Cuba has been left in the dark since September 27 due to a widespread blackout caused by damage to its power grid following Hurricane Ian.
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A woman holds an umbrella inverted by the wind in Tampa, Florida, on Sept. 28, 2022.
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An airplane is overturned by a likely tornado produced by the outer bands of Hurricane Ian, Sept. 28, 2022, at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Florida. Hurricane Ian rapidly intensified as it neared landfall along Florida’s southwest coast Wednesday morning, gaining top winds of 155 mph, just shy of the most dangerous Category 5 status.
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An uprooted tree, toppled by strong winds from the outer bands of Hurricane Ian, in a parking lot of a shopping center, Sept. 28, 2022, in Cooper City, Florida.
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A sign limits the sale of water in Tampa, Florida, Sept. 27, 2022, ahead of Hurricane Ian’s arrival.
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Utility poles tilted by Hurricane Ian in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, Sept. 27, 2022.
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People play dominoes by flashlight during a blackout in Havana, Cuba, Sept. 28, 2022. Cuba remained in the dark early Wednesday after Hurricane Ian knocked out its power grid and devastated some of the country’s most important tobacco farms when it hit the island’s western tip as a major storm.
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A man on a street in Havana during a blackout, Sept. 27, 2022. Cuba was left in the dark right after Hurricane Ian swept through the western part of the island, causing damage to the power grid and knocking out power for the entire island.
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A blackout triggered by Hurricane Ian in Havana, Cuba, Sept. 28, 2022. Hurricane Ian knocked out electricity to the entire island when it hit the island’s western tip as a major storm.
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A family surveys their flooded home in Batabano, Cuba, Sept. 27, 2022, after Hurricane Ian made landfall on the island Tuesday.
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People walk through a flooded street in Batabano, Cuba, Sept. 27, 2022, after Hurricane Ian swept through the area.
NASA
Hurricane Ian pictured from the International Space Station just south of Cuba, Sept. 26, 2022.
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Passenger try to reschedule their flights after many were cancelled or delayed due to Hurricane Ian, at Tocumen International Airport in Panama City, Sept. 27, 2022. Hurricane Ian tore into western Cuba as a major hurricane and left one million people without electricity, before it churned on a collision course with Florida over warm Gulf waters.
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People walk the beach at sunset in advance of the arrival of Hurricane Ian on Sept. 27, 2022, in Treasure Island, Florida.
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A damaged house is seen in San Juan y Martinez, Pinar del Rio Province, Cuba after Hurricane Ian swept through the island on Sept. 27, 2022.
A sign reading “Ian Not Welcome Here” is seen in Pinellas County where Hurricane Ian is projected to impact the Florida Gulf Coast in Largo, Florida, Sept. 26, 2022.
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A house is boarded up ahead of Hurricane Ian’s arrival in Indian Shores, 25 miles west of Tampa, Florida, Sept. 26, 2022.
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A shopper attempts to find water amid emptied shelves in Kissimmee, Florida, Sept. 26, 2022. Hurricane Ian made landfall in Cuba as a Category 3 on Tuesday, and is expected to strengthen further before making landfall along Florida’s west coast later in the week.
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A Cuban family transport personal belongings to a safe place in Havana, Cuba, Sept. 26, 2022, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Ian. Cuba declared an emergency alert in its six most western provinces as fast-approaching Hurricane Ian was moving northwest towards Cuba and the Cayman Islands with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour.
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A man carries a sack of food in Batabano, Cuba, Sept. 26, 2022, ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Ian.
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Barbara Schueler fills sandbags in a vacant lot in preparation for Hurricane Ian in St. Pete Beach, Florida, Sept. 26, 2022.
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Shoppers wait in line outside a retail warehouse as people rush to prepare for Tropical Storm Ian, in Kissimmee, Florida, on Sept. 25, 2022.
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People pull small boats out of Havana Bay in Havana, Sept. 26, 2022, as Cuba is expected to bear the brunt of Hurricane Ian.
“Our entire staff is safe and although the restaurant sustained incredible damage the structure of the building is intact,” the ownership of Nervous Nellie’s, a seafood restaurant on the beach, said in a statement. “We are hoping to work our way through this and be back stronger than ever.”
Around the region — Naples, Fort Myers, Sanibel — the magnitude of the damage is impossible to ignore. Along U.S. 41, the main road in the region, countless signs outside businesses are damaged, torn or just gone. The steel posts holding street signs in the ground are bent backward, no match for Ian’s wind and force. The doors to storage-unit garages were twisted, sending the belongings inside some of the spaces flying into the air. The majority of traffic lights are out, wires dangling to the road below in some cases.
And in one instance, a metal traffic sign directing drivers toward Interstate 75 got crushed by an electronic traffic sign warning drivers about a closed lane.
“I’ve seen some things,” said Clark Manchin, a construction project manager, as he assessed the mess. “I’ve never seen that.”
Patience was quickly wearing thin. A 7-Eleven worker pleaded with people who filled her store: No $20s, please. Small bills only. “If I run out of change, we have to close,” she pleaded. There was no gas, no hot food and — because there was no running water — no coffee or bathrooms, either.
“I didn’t take this as seriously as I should have,” Mark Crow of Naples said. “I didn’t stock up. I didn’t board up. It’s a mess, man. It’s bad.”
Much of the damage, thankfully, was just cosmetic. The 150-foot-high (50-meter), 250-yard (220-meter) deep nets ringing a Top Golf facility in Fort Myers were shredded, swaying in the afternoon breeze, not far from where a shredded American flag remained atop a pole at an office complex. At Florida Gulf Coast University, a set of bleachers — once on the sideline of the soccer field — blew halfway across the pitch and wound up crushing one of the goals.
Other damage was far worse. At an RV park in Fort Myers, debris from a destroyed golf cart floated in deep standing water Thursday, long after the storm cleared. Downed power lines and the destroyed poles they were attached to blocked the entrance. And down the street was a barn-style building that had been under construction. Its walls collapsed, the roof pinning the shredded lumber on the ground.
The damage assessments, and the cleanup, are just beginning.
“We have to be patient,” Sanibel Councilmember John Henshaw said. “We have to start looking at where are we going to stay and live for a significant period of time. Don’t know exactly what that is. We’ll learn more as we go through this process.”
