I haven't had the courage to drive through Fort Myers Beach since Hurricane Ian slammed it a year ago.
Until yesterday.
An entire strip mall is boarded up with few signs of activity.
Some places weren't worth even the cost of the plywood to seal them up. For Sale.
It looks like some owners just drove away without even a "For Sale" sign.
Most of the buildings with little or no progress after a year are older one-story buildings at ground level.
The buildings where progress is being made are taller, newer and either already have parking on the first floor (so storms aren't likely to destroy the usable parts of the building again) or can be adapted to do that.
It will be a decade before Fort Myers Beach recovers and it will be a very different place then.
Utter destruction.
ReplyDeleteHurricane Ian's devastation is still clearly shown. Some of these buildings are not worth rebuilding, and I suspect some of them were uninsured. You have documented the results of our climate change. I suspect worse storms are still in our future.
ReplyDeleteWow. And it’s just beginning.
ReplyDeleteSad, and it will happen again and again.
ReplyDelete