Florida beachfront paradise shattered by Hurricane Ian

FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla., Oct 5 (Reuters) – Almost per week after Hurricane Ian hammered southwest Florida, as soon as tony Fort Myers Seashore is a virtually abandoned catastrophe zone the place destroyed seashore homes now mar the postcard views that made this stretch of the Gulf Coast well-known.

The city on Estero Island going through the Gulf of Mexico was one of many communities hit hardest by the Class 4 hurricane, which killed greater than 100 individuals within the state when it struck final week.

Fort Myers Seashore, a barrier island that stands between the Gulf and the town of Fort Myers, has a inhabitants of 5,600, residing in bungalows and posh multistory seashore homes. Many retirees residing right here have second houses elsewhere in the US.

The island’s smooth, white sands and teal waves now make for a stark backdrop to rows of pastel storefronts which can be lacking partitions and home windows, a landmark pier stripped to its piles, crushed seashore homes, and foundations swept fully clear of the homes that after rested on them.

At one tackle, a set of concrete steps results in nowhere. Furnishings, plumbing fixtures and drywall are scattered all over the place.

Rescue groups directed by the U.S. Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) are conducting a second spherical of door-to-door checks for survivors, geared up with canines and cameras on extending poles.

“It’s going to be an extended restoration,” mentioned Ignatius Carroll, a consultant of Florida Process Pressure 2, a search-and-rescue unit that’s a part of FEMA’s efforts.

“See that particles from the home?” Carroll asks throughout a tour of Fort Meyers Seashore, pointing to a house with its entrance yard piled excessive like a junkyard. “That got here from one other home over right here.”

The primary 48 hours after a catastrophe hits are important to discovering survivors, though many individuals in hurricane-prone areas inventory 72 hours’ price of meals and water, Carroll mentioned. Even so, it is doable to seek out individuals days later than that, relying on their provisions, he mentioned.

Steve Duello, 67, a retired grocery retailer govt from St. Louis, mentioned he was devastated on Tuesday to see the injury to his Fort Myers Seashore house for the primary time because the hurricane hit.

His ruined home full of 8 toes of water in the course of the storm, and Duello mentioned he is not sure whether or not he’ll rebuild, regardless that he has been coming to the seashore since he was 14.

“It is method too early. Proper now our guts have been torn out. I don’t wish to ever undergo that once more.”

Fort Myers Seashore “seems to be like Hiroshima or Nagasaki,” he mentioned, referring to Japanese cities the place U.S. forces dropped atomic bombs throughout World Battle Two.

One other island resident, who declined to present his identify, stayed via the storm, and has no plans to depart.

“I really like this place. I do not wish to stay wherever else however right here,” mentioned the aged, deeply tanned man, carrying shorts and no shirt.

“My daughter desires to select me up and return to New York. I do not wish to go.”

Reporting by Rod Nickel in Fort Myers Seashore; modifying by Jonathan Oatis

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.