TIG Post

Tag: Fort Myers

  • A long queue for gas in Estero, Florida

    On Friday, there are massive lines of cars waiting to fill up with gas just before 8:00 local time.

    We’re in the town of Estero, about 15 miles east of Fort Myers, in a sizable retail center with just one gas station.

    Dozens of cars are approaching the gas station from each end – all barely moving. We’ve seen similar scenes at two other stations as we approach Fort Myers.

    Sixty-year-old Dean Perfetti – who was waiting to fill up multiple jerry cans – told us he’d already been there over an hour.

    Perfetti considers himself lucky: he only had “landscape” damage to his house.

    Many of the stores in the complex are still without water. The shortages have prompted Publix – an enormous grocery store – to put yellow caution tape around its washrooms to ward off customers in need of a working toilet.

    At a store next door, school textbook vendor Kamal said the storm was by far the worst he’s seen in 10 years living in the area.

    “It was crazy,” he said. “Thankfully my house just has cosmetic damage. It could have been a lot worse.”

  • Fort Myers: Eventhough no deaths were recorded, the devastation is too clear

    The town’s fire chief says no deaths have been officially reported in the devastated Florida city of Fort Myers.

    Speaking to local NPR affiliate 91.3 WLRN early on Friday morning, Chief Tracy McMillion said that while authorities are still working on a detailed damage assessment of the “catastrophic devastation”, it is increasingly clear that Hurricane Ian “totally changed the face of our charming city”.

    “Concrete blocks flew more than half a mile,” he said. “Boats are on roads in areas that they shouldn’t even have gotten to.”

    McMillion added that coastal parts of the city, as well as the city’s downtown area, have “taken a beating”.

    “These are the things that made our city really charming,” he added.

    Many local residents remain without power in the town. McMillion said that authorities are currently focused on making sure residents have all the supplies they need and on repairing critical infrastructure.

    We’re on our way to Ft Myers now and will be able to bring you some updates from the town shortly.

  • ‘The worst storm surge I’ve ever seen’ – Hurricane Ian devastates Fort Myers

    Less than 24 hours after the hurricane made landfall, I’m standing with Pastor James Macon from the city’s River Church, assessing the devastation. Fort Myers was directly in the line of the hurricane.

    Boats are piled on top of one another at the marina, pieces of the floating harbour have been forced inland, and the area is covered with muck and trash.

    “I’ve never seen anything like this in all my years in Florida. I’ve been here since 1982 and I’m lost for word right now,” he tells me.

    “This is, wow.”

    Pastor James says he’s been driving around looking for people in need of help and he’s particularly worried about homeless people who might have been out last night.

    But while he’s aware that much of the damage here in the marina is likely to impact a different end of society, he says everyone needs help.

    “This neighbourhood, of course, they’re pretty well off, but we’re here to help them out.”

    Lee county, the area that surrounds Fort Myers took the brunt of the storm surge.

    There’s been suggestions from the local sheriff, Carmine Marceno, that – in outlying island communities – particularly where they’re hard to access as a result of at least one destroyed bridge and a damaged causeway – the authorities fear they could yet find a significant loss of life.

    But so far, there’s been no official confirmation of that claim and, in a later interview, Mr Marceno was more cautious.

    “I don’t know the exact numbers, it’s very preliminary,” he told CNN.

    The hurricane quickly lost power as it barrelled into the gulf side of the Florida peninsular and though heavy rain continued to pose a risk of flooding, the wind speed quickly dropped.

    Fort Myers in particular though will be counting the cost for some time.

    Patrick Hallquist was at home when the hurricane struck and says he’s never seen anything this bad.

    Patrick Hallquist in St Myers, Florida

    “I’ve been in quite a few hurricanes and this is the worst storm surge I’ve ever seen”, he tells me.

    “It was a little bit anxiety-ridden,” he adds.

    Despite the devastation, many here feel they’ve had a lucky escape from a hurricane that fits a pattern of increasingly powerful storms, thought to be fuelled in part by man-made global warming.

    Pastor James says he’s so far seen no evidence of a large number of casualties.

    “I have a lot of friends around here, I’ve visited their houses and so far, so good,” he tells me.

    “By the grace of God, we did endure this thing.”