Heartache remains in Florida 1 month after Hurricane Ian's unimaginable destruction
Friday marks a month since Hurricane Ian hit and forever changed Southwest Florida. Survivors are taking stock of progress already made and planning for what still needs to be done.
1 month later: Strength, resilience in Southwest Florida as area recovers from Hurricane Ian
As Southwest Florida marks one month since Hurricane Ian hit, survivor stories show that progress is underway. Four weeks since Ian is not a lot of time, but there’s no question that the days have been long. Many are still planning for what still needs to be done. FOX Weather's Nicole Valdes is in Fort Myers Beach, Florida.
FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. – It’s been one month since Hurricane Ian unleashed fury on the Southwest Florida coast as survivors return to ruins, starting a long recovery process.
Ian slammed into the Fort Myers area on Sept. 28 as a Category 4 hurricane with 150-mph winds. Those terrible winds pushed ashore feet of water from the Gulf of Mexico that tore across barrier islands and gutted buildings along the coast.
The deaths of more than 100 people in Florida have been attributed to the hurricane, and most of those fatalities were drownings.
Hundreds of homes were also washed away, leaving people with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
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Using lessons learned to build better future in Fort Myers Beach
FOX Weather's Nicole Valdes spoke to Bonnie McLaughlin, a Fort Myers Beach resident, who plans to use the lessons taught by Hurricane Ian to build a better future and help revive Fort Myers Beach.
The damage
Fort Myers Beach was considered by many to be ground zero for Hurricane Ian.
"I think I'm still a little numb, just a little shocked maybe," said Tara Oakes who lives in Fort Myers. "It's a little overwhelming when you look around."
Tara Oakes evacuated with her husband Mike ahead of Ian's arrival. They found a hotel on the other side of the state and returned to find their beloved cottage torn apart and swept away by storm surge.
"We weren't very hopeful when we got here in finding anything," Mike Oakes said after the couple returned he returned home for the first time since the storm. "We kind of prepared for the worst. I would say we are seeing the worst."
Many of the quaint cottages destroyed, like the Oakes’, were built in the 1950s and 1960s. They are now in ruin, awaiting demolition.
Insurance and property analysis companies have upped their damage estimates since the early days of recovery. CoreLogic stated in a press release that insured and uninsured losses due to wind and flood damage from Ian could be as high as $70 billion, making it a top-five U.S. storm.
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Reflecting on Hurricane Ian's landfall one month later in Fort Myers Beach
Friday marks one month since Hurricane Ian made landfall over Southwest Florida. FOX Weather's Nicole Valdes returns to Fort Myers Beach to reflect on the damage, the loss, what's been done and what's left to do to make what many call "ground zero" whole again.
Harrowing accounts
There were also terrifying stories of survival. One mother even placed her infant son in a plastic bin to keep him from drowning.
Callie Brown's family did not evacuate, and the storm surge nearly reached the ceiling of their one-story Fort Myers home. With her baby in a plastic bin, the new mom started swimming out of her house to avoid drowning.
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Looking back on the nightmare, Brown said she didn't think they would make it out of her flooded home alive, let alone where the storm surge would take them.
"When we were floating down the road, my adrenaline was so high," she said. "All I could think was, ‘Don’t let this Tupperware turn over. Don’t let baby Charlie fall out of this bin,’" she said. "I was also just thinking, ‘Where is this water taking us to? Are we going out to the ocean?’"
Surviving Hurricane Ian and living to tell the harrowing tale of saving her family's life takes everything to a whole new level, Brown said.
"It's one thing when you're fending for yourself," she said. "It's one thing when you know you're responsible for the life of an innocent baby who can't fend for himself, who can't do anything."
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Sanibel Island residents return home for first time since Hurricane Ian
The Sanibel Causeway reopened Wednesday ahead of schedule allowing residents to return for the first time in weeks. FOX Weather's Brandy Campbell reports.
Following the storm, utility companies in Florida worked around the clock to restore power. Officials warned the task would take weeks or even months to complete in the hardest-hit areas.
During the height of the outages, more than 2.5 million customers were without power. The outages pale in comparison to Hurricane Irma in 2017, which knocked out power to 6.7 million customers.
If there is running water on Fort Myers Beach, only about 5 dozen streets have it as of this week. It’s still not safe to drink.
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Sister fights Hurricane Ian's rising floodwaters to save disabled brothers
Darcy Bishop and her brothers were flooded out of their home and left with nothing after Hurricane Ian sent nearly 7 feet of storm surge through their front door. As she is left alone to pick up the pieces, fixing everything will be the most challenging thing to overcome.
Hopeless imagery
Cleanup continues in the hardest-hit and uninhabitable areas such as Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. The imagery seems hopeless, but the mood is optimistic.
"It's all gone," said Fort Myers plumber David Drumm, who lost everything during the hurricane. "Every last bit of it. Every truck. Every fitting. Every part. Every tool. Everything is gone, but it's replaceable."
Drumm is still trying to get back to normal, vowing to build back stronger and better than ever. He's in recovery mode and working on repairing his home, which doubles as a base for his business – Reflow Plumbing.
About three weeks after Hurricane Ian, he already purchased one truck. With insurance, savings and community support, he said he's confident in a comeback.
However, other businesses were not so lucky. One shrimping company in Fort Myers and its employees are having a difficult time moving forward with their recovery.
"I'm losing employees every day because they've got to eat," said Grant Erickson, owner of Erickson and Jensen Shrimp Seafood.
Erickson said he owns 11 shrimp boats that make up his business that is based in one of the largest shrimping ports in Florida. Only two of his boats are working.
"I hope there's enough care about this industry and what we do," Erickson said. "You know, I've never asked for help before. We need it now."
Hurricane Ian destroys boats head of busy shrimping season
Recreational boats were tossed around like toys when Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida last month, but commercial boats were also destroyed. FOX Weather multimedia journalist Brandy Campbell is in Fort Myers Beach where one local shrimping company is struggling to pick up the pieces and move forward with their recovery.
Always fighting
It's been 30 long and unimaginable days for Southwest Florida, yet there are signs of hope among the sadness – even for Suzanne Fogarty who also lost everything including her husband of 33 years who died from cancer just days after the storm's landfall.
"There will be times when I will be devastated and hurt, and I will always mourn," said Fogarty while being comforted by her two sons, Timmy and Taylor. "But we will be OK."
Tim Fogarty will never know that his beloved beach home no longer stands and that the decades of his coaching and athletic memories which decorated the walls are gone. Ian took everything.
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"He ended his life here; his favorite place on Earth," Suzanne Fogarty said.
The Fogartys believe he held on to ensure his family was safe after the storm. They also believe their family operated like a team because their dad was their coach their entire lives, teaching them about resiliency.
"He taught us those lessons," Timmy Fogarty said. "The last two weeks (following Ian) have been unexplainable, but it would be unbearable if we didn’t have that lifestyle."
The Fogartys will stay together as a team, always fighting, standing tough, no matter the next storm on the horizon.