last hurricane to hit fort myers beach

There, his new home sits on a slip of gravel. As Florida approaches the start of hurricane season this summer, insurance experts say there are some things homeowners should be checking. Irmas forecasts had originally put Fort Myers and the rest of Lee County at risk of a direct hit, with storm surges of up to 15 feet. The forecasters were comparing Ian to Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm that hit the area in 2004. This is something we talk about every year, how to reach people, he said. After its all said and done, the only thing that I hope is that she wasnt mad at me.. Chustz will patrol the beach at night to monitor light pollution on sea turtle nesting habitat. By the time Peters realized she was wrong, water had already started gushing into her home. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent. The town charges $250 for the first citation and $500 for additional violations for the same property. Collson told her brother she didnt want to ride out the storm that way she wasnt comfortable requiring so much help with so many people around her. While Southwest Florida continues recovering from Hurricane Ian, this years hurricane season is a month away. Broward County Mayor Lamar Fisher and two 8-member teams from FEMA went door-to-door Monday in some of the areas hardest hit by last month's flooding. I would have gone and picked him up.. Most of those who died were over age 65, NBC News analysis found, and many of them lived alone. The weather is expected to worsen beginning Wednesday morning and intensify in the afternoon and evening, Superintendent Mike Burke said the decision was made out of an abundance of caution, Peak impacts for South Florida will likely take place Wednesday, Subtropical Storm Nicole is now expected to become a hurricane over the Bahamas before hitting Florida's east coast. Beginning Monday from 9 p.m. to dawn each day through October, outdoor lighting is prohibited facing the beach except for shielded amber lights, and blinds must be closed. Past update on Publix7 things to know about Fort Myers Beach's'functional paradise,' new damage estimates, Want more FMB news?No injuries in roof fire that raged at Fort Myers Beach condo building Saturday afternoon. Utterback tried to get out the kitchen window but became trapped. When Turtle Time first started documenting nests in 1996, there were only 30 recorded. Susan says, "Neither do I much now today. This is preventable, she said. CBS4's Ivan Cabrera reports on the has the latest information on Tropical Depression 9. He had heeded calls to leave before Irma because the Fort Myers Beach home he was living in at the time looked like it was held together by staples, he said. 0:51. Hes been stuck before. Where the newly constructed berm is in place, sea turtles are less likely to reach Estero Boulevard., The Town of Fort Myers Beach is reminding all property owners to be conscientious about the lighting they are installing, Chustz said. Nigel Chiwaya is the Senior Editor, Data Viz for NBC News Digital. Hurricane Ians toll revealed gaps in efforts to protect Florida's most vulnerable residents, an NBC News analysis found, based on death records, flood maps and interviews with survivors, victims' relatives and disaster preparedness experts. We are banging our heads against the wall, because it keeps happening.. He found Utterbacks body stuck in a window. FORT MYERS, FLA. No place in Florida seemed to have suffered more damage from Hurricane Ian than the town of Fort Myers Beach, located on Estero Island along the state's southwest coast. Her resolve began to weaken two days before the storm, when she looked into a shelter. Jay scaling a five-story pole. The education is out there. "It was hard to get in there because the couches and everything floated up, all mixed together. All the more reason for the Town to pursue getting amber LEDs put in place. "It will probably be there for six months or a year," he says, "because so many places have been hit.". Florida Gov. ", Susan Helton has experienced trauma before. Everything from traffic crashes to moving vulnerable populations can result in deaths, he said. People were telling them to leave, said Crystal Rothhaar, the chief communications officer at the nonprofit Senior Friendship Centers, which helps people in Lee and three other southwest Florida counties plan for hurricanes and checks in on them. Trucks bobbed past. It is human nature for people to measure their risk in a coming storm by comparing it to storms theyve weathered in the past. Seven people died, three of them in high-risk surge zones. Then its: Oh, they called for a mandatory last time and nothing happened.. Still, at the seven-month mark since the Category 4 storm hit, it can be difficult and painful to see the scars that remain in many places, including Sanibel Island, which along with Fort Myers Beach, Pine Island and parts of Cape Coral and Fort Myers neighborhoods along the Caloosahatchess River, absorbed the brunt of Ian. Ron DeSantis has announced he will travel to Japan, South Korea, Israel and the United Kingdom as part of an international trade mission. Celebrate mom with great Mother's Day gifts from Apple, KitchenAid, NuFace and more. Got married five times. One of the cheapest FWC certified wildlife lighting options that staff has found available online is the FEIT A19 Red Bulb that screws into classic Edison fixtures. But Hurricane Ians toll on vulnerable residents showed the gaps in those efforts. Further direct disturbances of sea turtles and their nestings could result in federal or state prosecution. If one encounters a sea turtle or hatchlings on the beach, they should stay clear as to not interfere with their nesting or hatchling process. He had already repaired the rudder, put a regulator on the hose, added fiberglass. The Bay to Beach condo complex is at 740 Estero Boulevard, about a quarter mile north of the Fort Myers Beach pier where the rooftop fire with copious smoke was reported around 12:30 p.m. Loggerhead sea turtles are protected by the Endangered Species Act, Floridas Marine Turtle Protection Act, and The Town of Fort Myers Beach Sea Turtle Conservation Code. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. "It's critical to check on that property insurance right now," Robert Norberg of Arden Insurance in Lantana said. Some said they didnt have enough warning, while others were unaware of the danger or lacked the resources to leave. All rights reserved. File photo. Six months after Hurricane Ian stormed across Southwest Florida, people in many areas are still struggling to rebuild. "I have a son over there," he says, "and he doesn't like Florida." Debris in front of a home in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., on Oct. 31. One of the places severely damaged by Hurricane Ian was Fort Myers Beach, and seven months later, theres still more to do, but theyve come a long way. There were 109 loggerhead sea turtle nests recorded on Fort Myers Beach last year, up from 30 when Turtle Time first began tracking the nests. Jerry Springer, the one-time big city mayor whose namesake TV show unleashed chaos on weekday afternoons, has died at 79. Collson, 67, was alone and bedridden with knees so badly deteriorated that shed spent two years in nursing homes, including for much of the pandemic, when the facilities didnt allow visitors, her brother, Jim, said. Copyright 2023 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. "We were going to sell [the house] this winter," Jim says. One of the places severely damaged by Hurricane Ian was Fort Myers Beach, and seven months later, theres still more to do, but theyve come a long way. Jay said at the end of March, ranting about the boatyard owners. We know where you can save big on a washer and dryer right now. There wasnt much time to get out. I like solitude, he said. Norberg said many homeowners should contact their agents about possibly adjusting the replacement costs of their homes on policies. An emergency sand berm is built on Fort Myers Beach on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Fortunately, there are no current threats to South Florida. That upset her. He felt the breeze through his beard, looked up at the stars, then climbed into his cabin and poured another rum and Coke. On Aug. 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley passed by Fort Myers Beach and made landfall at Cayo Costa. The weekend before Ian hit Florida, forecasters projected that the storm posed the biggest threat to the Tampa area, north of Fort Myers, according to the National Hurricane Center. So as Ian approached the coast, Yost didnt feel urgency to leave. Amber LED light is bright, but it has a wavelength that is long which sea turtles and other nocturnal species, including migratory birds, dont react to. Sea turtle nesting season officially begins this Monday on Fort Myers Beach, with regulations in place to protect the threatened species. They hung up, and DeMoss hoped shed be fine. The deputies from the Sheriffs Office will help us in the event of a disoriented turtle on the street, she said. Hatchlings are disorientated by both interior and exterior lights, Haverfield said. Nearly two months after the hurricane, with funerals still being held and the wrecked landscape still being cleared of debris, experts say the disaster should serve as a warning for communities that continue to build homes in places exposed to increasingly powerful storms and a reminder to step up efforts to help the defenseless. Haverfield, who lost her home off island in Fort Myers to Hurricane Ian like many others on Fort Myers Beach, said thankfully most of my volunteers have joyfully returned.. Weather officials say they're retiring the names Fiona and Ian from the rotating list of Atlantic tropical cyclone names because of the death and destruction caused by the most recent storms with those names. He was glad to make coffee on a real stove each morning and have ice in his rum and Cokes at night. Lee County officials declined requests for interviews about how they prepare residents for hurricanes, communicate risks and decide the timing of evacuation orders. Rent vouchers dont help. Others may have lost spouses who handled such things or dont have nearby family members or neighbors to ask for help. Thirty-three of the Lee County deaths were in the federal governments documented storm surge danger zone; 28 of those were in the most hazardous areas on barrier islands and directly along the coast. Craig Fugate, a former administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a former director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said ordering evacuations carries its own risks. Many residents, especially those who were new to the area, didnt know that they lived in storm surge danger zones, relatives and survivors said. We expect that Hurricane Ian opened a lot of peoples eyes about the danger of storm surge and what to do if youre in an evacuation zone.. Haverfield said 16 nests didnt hatch due to storms which washed out the nests. The investigation was based on a review of hundreds of death records, an examination of flood maps and interviews with survivors, victims relatives, service providers, disaster preparedness experts and current and former public officials. She's a former New Yorker and was in Manhattan on 9/11. The result has led many homeowners to state-backed Citizens Insurance. Lee County will be receiving more than $1.1 billion from the federal government as a boost to continue recovering from Hurricane Ian. It was Ian's storm surge that did the damage. Lee County suffered none of the states 123 Irma deaths. Haverfield, who lost her home off island in Fort Myers to Hurricane Ian like many others on Fort Myers Beach, said thankfully most of my volunteers have joyfully returned. Last year, there were 109 loggerhead sea turtle nests documented on Fort Myers Beach, Haverfield said. Robbie M. Parks, an assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University, said that for many people, evacuation is an out-of-reach luxury. Residents who evacuated and were briefly able to return to their homes are stunned by how little remains. After she returned home in April, a move made possible by daily help from a health aide, Collson vowed not to leave again, even if it meant putting off surgeries that could help her regain the ability to walk. The surge picked up everything in the house: furniture, heavy appliances, a golf cart, "and books," Susan says, "all my books.". In the end, Ian may have accomplished what years of education efforts and disaster planning didnt: convince everyone on Floridas southwest coast that hurricanes and storm surges kill. The Heltons say they're staying in Florida just until they are able to make the necessary connections with FEMA. I'm alive," Jim says, and then laughs. Starting Monday after 9 p.m., outdoor lights must be turned off outside on Fort Myers Beach properties facing the beach each night, except for shielded amber lights that are downward directed, until dawn. Anjali Nair / Nigel Chiwaya; Thomas Simonetti; NBC News. When it comes to windows and glass slider doors, FWC sea turtle biologists have advised that , with 45% light transmittance may not be sufficient to adequately reduce light visibility to nesting and hatchling sea turtles. Scores of people on Floridas southwest coast and others in flood-prone inland areas stayed to face the Category 4 storm or tried to run only when the water began to deluge roads and homes. Landscaping. Its not hard to remember the days immediately following Hurricane Ian and how tough they were. Experts said the decision about when to order an evacuation is hard to get right. In mid-March, a few weeks after his story ran in the Tampa Bay Times, he caught a ride to the boatyard. Nobodys ever told me that, said Dunn, who teaches disaster response and management at the University of South Florida. Hurricane Hurricane Ian hit Cat 5 in Gulf, was Floridas most expensive storm. A House plan to eliminate the business-recruitment agency Enterprise Florida and relocate tourism-marketing efforts also would lead to a change in the name of the state Department of Economic Opportunity. Much of the catastrophic toll was foreseeable and preventable, an NBC News investigation found. These tracks were from a sea turtle's false crawl over the weekend on Bonita Beach. Others underestimated their risks, particularly after Hurricane Irma in 2017, when many residents evacuated but returned to untouched homes, which clouded some peoples understanding of whether they had been in real peril. "I thought, you gave me one disaster, don't push it. The directive expanded throughout the day to include other imperiled areas. He was sick of the grind of bureaucracy, tired of living on land. Copyright FORT MYERS - Beach Observer and Beach Bulletin | https://www.fortmyersbeachtalk.com | 19260 San Carlos Blvd, Bldg. Many have moved to Florida in recent years from places where theyd never experienced hurricanes. But in January, after all 260 closed, hundreds of people were forced onto the streets and into the woods. But they feel lucky they got a room here after their home was demolished in the storm. An estimated 34,000 people stayed in emergency shelters. They amassed donated blankets, bikes and food, formed a makeshift community. Efforts to convince people to move out of harm's way as a hurricane approaches face many hurdles. Tropical Storm Nicole made landfall in the Bahamas shortly before noon Wednesday and is expected to continue its approach to Florida sometime tonight. County governments also maintain registries of disabled people who may need to go to special-needs shelters during storms. Some boat strikes, others, no definitive cause of death.. The deaths from Ian are very, very tragic, said Tener Goodwin Veenema, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security who lives in Florida. NBC News reporters submitted more than 60 public records requests to local and state police agencies, medical examiners offices and emergency management agencies to collect 911 and emergency dispatch recordings, police reports, autopsy records and other documents to account for the dead. The vessel was smaller than hed hoped for, but a foot longer than his old one. The 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season officially ended Wednesday. I was ready to say my last prayer and the water stopped and started receding, Conway said. Six months after Hurricane Ian smashed his liveaboard sailboat into the mangroves, after a Coast Guard helicopter rescued him, after spending five months in a tent beneath a Fort Myers bridge, John Jay Burki, 76, finally has a home. Beneath the Matanzas Pass Bridge, where Capt. Fort Myers Beach was particularly hit hard by the 15-foot storm surge. Or climb the 52-foot mast to check the rigging. At the second try, she was not pleased with the presence of a palm tree., just the right spot somewhere, hopefully on one of the beaches that we monitor.. As Ian made its approach toward Floridas southwest coast, many residents thought of the last major storm to come through: Irma, a Category 3 hurricane in 2017, for which nearly 7 million people statewide evacuated. And his boat wouldnt float. Fort Myers News-Press. FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. Few communities in the U.S. have seen the level of destruction Hurricane Ian brought to Fort Myers Beach. Collson, who lived on a finger of land 5 miles from the island where the hurricane made landfall, texted Jim as conditions worsened. They had notice. Companion bills making their way through the Florida Legislature would make Gov. Indoor lighting should be as far away from windows as possible. The storm hit that afternoon. After months of repairs and planning, Publix officials confirmed Friday morning that the Estero Boulevard location is slated to reopen its doors on May 25. In this CBS Miami special report, we take a look at a whole host of hurricane season topics from above average activity to complacency Florida's unemployment rate remained at 2.6 percent in March, as service-related jobs continued to lead in new hiring and construction jobs fell for a third consecutive month. Elizabeth Dunn, who leads a Hillsborough County community emergency response team that knocks on doors to spread awareness of storm surge threats, said many residents, particularly older ones, still dont fully understand the danger of not evacuating high-risk areas. The berm is being built to protect Over the previous 24 hours, the expected landfall had shifted about 80 miles south, according to the National Hurricane Center. The Category 4 storm ripped through neighborhoods like Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach last Wednesday after making landfall nearby in Cayo Costa, a barrier island off the coast of Fort Myers. The next day, with phone lines down, he drove to her house and found her body. Ian was one of the deadliest hurricanes to hit the U.S. in the past 20 years. So usually, we have about 14 named storms throughout the hurricane season, and theyre calling for 13, Giarratana said. That night, below a shot of sunset, he wrote, Success in your life is a result of self-satisfaction.. There is no one to be mad at. On Sept. 27, the day before Ians expected arrival, Lee County officials issued a mandatory evacuation order for people close to the coast, including Collson. A friend helped him haul his donated bed, bookcase and boombox, his Mozart CDs and fishing poles, to the boatyard. hide caption. Jim Helton has been in Florida more than 40 years. It wasnt supposed to be hitting us, Conway said. He's 84, long since retired and now is not sure what to do next. Like many Floridians, Capt. An accused killer is in court after his defense missed a deadline. South Florida Sports Headlines Newsletter. Because I'm just about out of gas.". He tried to stay positive, but when he saw the boat inside his house and the damage done by the surge, his heart sank. During those hours, from Sunday night through Monday, forecasts outlined the possibility of storm surge in the Lee County area of up to 7 feet. Stunned, Yost went to Utterbacks house. Jim asks Basabe about the investigation, as well as his stance on LGBTQ+ rights and abortion. Hurricane season 2022 included widespread destruction fromFiona and Ian.

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