The impact of Hurricane Ian is felt well beyond its Florida border.
A good number of Clear Lakers call Florida home during at least part of the year, while others have made the state their permanent home away from home. So last week when Ian, a Category 4 Atlantic hurricane ravaged Southwest Florida, the pain of the devastation and feeling of helplessness was palatable here.
Ian made landfall in Florida on Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 28. Maximum sustained winds were around 150 mph as it hit the southwest coast at the island of Cayo Costa near Fort Myers and Cape Coral. By Wednesday night, more than 2 million customers were without power in the state, and communities along Florida’s west coast had issued mandatory curfews. Bridges to barrier islands were washed out and roadways flooded. Amid the devastation, the death toll is rising. National news sources confirmed that as of Monday, Oct. 3, at least 103 people died due to the storm — 99 in Florida and another four in North Carolina.
Becky Sunner, a former Clear Lake resident who now lives in the St. Petersburg area, said she has experienced severe weather during her six years living in Florida, but she is still reeling from the widespread damage and loss of life from Hurricane Ian.
“If I had to call this feeling something, it feels most like grief. A totally consuming grief. Yet no one I know died, and it was not my stuff, not my house, not my car, not my boat or my yard. But it feels like it is my grief,” Sunner explained.
Another former Clear Lake resident, who now calls Fort Myers Beach home, experienced the widespread devastation firsthand and confessed she simply doesn’t have the energy to comment. While she declined to share her name with readers of this story, she reported Tuesday that she and her husband are safe. Water has been restored, although they are not drinking it. They are hopeful power will be restored by the end of the week and a friend has provided use of a vehicle which will allow them to venture out and hopefully find groceries.
Ben Schmitt, from Clear Lake, was not in Florida when the hurricane made landfall, but the impact was felt.
“Fort Myers Beach has been our home away from home for many years and Lahaina has been in our family for over 50 years. It’s our paradise and happy place,” said Schmitt. “I grew up playing in the sand, finding seashells, enjoying the local restaurants, and now raising my kids in this amazing place. We have friends there who became like family and have made memories to last a lifetime. Seeing pictures of the island we love completely destroyed is so heartbreaking. We have heavy hearts for the local people and their livelihoods that made Fort Myers Beach what it was. We are praying for all of the families of those who lost their lives, the first reponders, and those mourning the loss of everything they worked so hard for and loved.”
Mike and Sue Finnegan were also home in North Iowa when the hurricane headed toward their residence in Sarasota, Fla.
“We really lucked out,” said Mike. “We kept watching the reports and maps forecasting the hurricane’s path after it left Cuba. It was heading toward Tampa Bay and Sarasota and it kept waddling back and forth. It suddenly took a north/northeasterly turn when it got to the coast and Fort Myers was hit.”
The Finnegans were provided with a view from their property, courtesy of their Ring doorbell. “We could see the view from the front door and we used the palm trees as our indicator of the wind and rain.”
Mike called the weather event a “wake up call for the next time” and said he will talk with his Florida neighbors about plans they can make to prepare for the future.
“We have storms, but they never seem to amount to much. On the Atlantic side they are better prepared. They get hurricanes. On the Gulf side we really don’t and I guess that’s given us a false sense of security,” confessed Mike. “We have hurricane shutters, but no way to have them put up if we are not there— and there’s at least four others on our street who weren’t there, as well. This has made us all realize what is possible and we are praying for those who were affected.”
