My brother and sister-in-law lost almost everything in their condo last September due to Hurricane Ian. They live in the Fort Meyers area and their ground-floor condo flooded. It had to be gutted. They finally moved in on April 6 after mold remediation etc. even though their place wasn't completely renovated. They had to fight the insurance companies every step of the way. They were lucky. They had one neighbor who had discontinued her flood insurance a month before the hurricane hit.
The voters of the state of Florida should read this and they will understand why their elected officials are voting for whoever is lining their pockets and the citizens of this great state are paying the price.
Fort Myers native here. It’s awful, what we’ve lived through since Ian. Everyone I know suffered loss, and at least half lost everything. FEMA has been great for a lot of people, but not everyone. I never received help that my family needed for repairs or lots of work, etc. I still know people living in hotels even today, a year later. Really is locals are just wanting life to go back to normal, but it won’t. It never will. Take our beloved beach for example. It’s going to be completely commercialized when it’s finally built back. Which is something we’ve been doing our best to avoid for decades, fighting against! We’re going to be like Fort Lauderdale soon. And then the PTSD, oh my God! My family, we’re local. My husband is originally from LaBelle, and his people have been here generations. My children learned to swim before they could walk! And suddenly here we are, afraid of water. Afraid of WATER! Never dreamed... We’ve lived through so many big name storms and never fled, some of us even joked about those who run. Suddenly we’re watching the weather guy, Mike, with dread! I mean, it’s wild! And still we must remember, at least we’re alive! So many didn’t survive the storm, and the death toll was much higher than reported. All of those people washed out to sea, never to be heard from again... I will say that our Governor did try his best. He did. When it was all going down, he was here with us. And Biden sure didn’t help. All of this being said, the positive part of it all was community support, the outpouring of love! You couldn’t travel even a block without people pushing meals and supplies at you, MREs, cases of water, tarps for your home, hot meals cooked with a generator, just whatever you needed - and all for free. We had plenty of looters drive down looking to take advantage, sure. But it also brought out the very best of humanity as well...
My brother and sister-in-law lost almost everything in their condo last September due to Hurricane Ian. They live in the Fort Meyers area and their ground-floor condo flooded. It had to be gutted. They finally moved in on April 6 after mold remediation etc. even though their place wasn't completely renovated. They had to fight the insurance companies every step of the way. They were lucky. They had one neighbor who had discontinued her flood insurance a month before the hurricane hit.
Great article,
The voters of the state of Florida should read this and they will understand why their elected officials are voting for whoever is lining their pockets and the citizens of this great state are paying the price.
Fort Myers native here. It’s awful, what we’ve lived through since Ian. Everyone I know suffered loss, and at least half lost everything. FEMA has been great for a lot of people, but not everyone. I never received help that my family needed for repairs or lots of work, etc. I still know people living in hotels even today, a year later. Really is locals are just wanting life to go back to normal, but it won’t. It never will. Take our beloved beach for example. It’s going to be completely commercialized when it’s finally built back. Which is something we’ve been doing our best to avoid for decades, fighting against! We’re going to be like Fort Lauderdale soon. And then the PTSD, oh my God! My family, we’re local. My husband is originally from LaBelle, and his people have been here generations. My children learned to swim before they could walk! And suddenly here we are, afraid of water. Afraid of WATER! Never dreamed... We’ve lived through so many big name storms and never fled, some of us even joked about those who run. Suddenly we’re watching the weather guy, Mike, with dread! I mean, it’s wild! And still we must remember, at least we’re alive! So many didn’t survive the storm, and the death toll was much higher than reported. All of those people washed out to sea, never to be heard from again... I will say that our Governor did try his best. He did. When it was all going down, he was here with us. And Biden sure didn’t help. All of this being said, the positive part of it all was community support, the outpouring of love! You couldn’t travel even a block without people pushing meals and supplies at you, MREs, cases of water, tarps for your home, hot meals cooked with a generator, just whatever you needed - and all for free. We had plenty of looters drive down looking to take advantage, sure. But it also brought out the very best of humanity as well...