Hurricane Ian: Is Fort Myers on the road to recovery?
Last September, Hurricane Ian ripped through southwest Florida, leaving a path of destruction in its wake. Madeleine Barber visits Fort Myers Beach four months on to assess its recovery and find out if the destination is ready to welcome back Brits.
“I’ll have a Hurricane, please.” The words taste sour, but my request is met with a sweet smile. “Of course, may I see some ID?” It’s a surreal moment, purchasing a somewhat inappropriately listed cocktail from a pop-up bar when, just four months earlier, the very same bar had a floor, four walls and a roof.
Hurricane Ian did not leave a single floorboard belonging to La Ola Surfside Restaurant and Bar, but this hasn’t stopped its owners bringing live music, thirst-quenching drinks and a jovial atmosphere to Fort Myers Beach. Locals sit in the sunshine at mismatched tables and chairs on the promenade, singing along to Sweet Caroline (of all tunes) and shaking homemade maracas to the familiar beat.
On the opposite side of the prom, a gigantic and hazardous mountain of crumbled concrete, rusting metal and exposed wires serves as a stark reminder of the destruction Hurricane Ian brought to Fort Myers Beach and the surrounding area on 28 September 2022.
Jacki Liszak, president and chief executive of the Fort Myers Beach chamber of commerce, is a local resident and tourism business owner, who suffered at the hands of the storm in a big way.
Her businesses, The Sea Gypsy Inn and Sea Gypsy Vacation Rentals, were hugely affected by the storm surge, with the 18-foot wave wiping out the inn’s gift shop and 90 of her 125 holiday homes. Meanwhile, her own home was flooded so badly she’s still living without electricity.
“Hurricane Ian has had a massive impact,” she tells me. “It’s an event we always knew could potentially happen, but you never think it’s going to happen to you. It’s a once in a 500-year event.”
I don’t find this hard to believe. The magnitude of the destruction is like nothing I’ve ever laid eyes on – after four months of relentless clean up, shrimping boats are still toppled like dominoes, while yachts lay submerged in harbours and lodged in rooftops; shops and houses remain empty, reduced to tattered shells. Then there’s the empty space – too much empty space – where hotels, restaurants, bars, shops and homes once stood.
This is because almost every building erected before 1992, when hurricane-resistant building codes came into force, has been all-but wiped out. And more may disappear yet, as brand-new codes rule any structure deemed more than 50% damaged must be demolished.
Jacki is uncertain of her rebuild plans for the Sea Gypsy brands, but many other holiday accommodation owners haven’t been so hesitant, with Lee County – encompassing Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Sanibel, Captiva and surrounds – reporting 67.3% of guest rooms are now open for business. In the days after Ian, this statistic stood at just 44.5%.
What about the beaches?
With Fort Myers Beach and its surrounding shoreline typically a fly-and-flop destination for Brits, the biggest question is: Are the beaches open? Officially, no. There’s just one beach officials have so far declared fit for purpose and that’s Boca Grande, which at over an hour’s drive or a ferry from Downtown Fort Myers, isn’t the most easily accessible.
That said, locals are enjoying the golden sands at Fort Myers Beach and on Estero Island – the sand has been sifted for debris and the reason for officials holding back the green light is the lack of amenities such as showers and toilets.
“If [tourists] are looking for that traditional beach vacation, this year, that’s probably not going to happen,” says Brian Hamman, Lee County’s chairman of the board of county commissioners. “Our hotels that are open are the ones that are inland.”
He estimates Lee County tourism will be down 40-60% this year, but adds: “Once we have our beaches repaired, I believe we will have the cleanest, whitest, brightest beaches in the entire state of Florida – and tourists will want to come and visit the renewed, refreshed and rebuilt resorts at this time too.”
Local business owner Peter Ennis shares a similar sunny outlook after successfully clearing and reopening both his restaurants, Wahoo Willie’s Tiki Bar and Grill and Snug Harbor Waterfront Restaurant, in Fort Myers Beach.
“Are we normal yet? Absolutely not,” he says. “People know about the damage here in Fort Myers Beach but they also know this is a beautiful spot so I think tourism is going to be really strong.”
The goal is to have all beaches open again in time for the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Ian in September.
Beyond the beach
Of course, not every British holidaymaker is looking for a beach to lie on, and so this is where Fort Myers comes in. Set back from the coastline on the banks of the Caloosahatchee River, the city was partly sheltered from Ian’s wrath.
But still, many downtown hotels, cultural attractions, shops, restaurants and bars suffered flooding and were forced to close. Now, there are just a handful of these that are yet to reopen and it’s almost business as usual.
Nautical Tiki Cruises, a local tour operator offering visitors BYOB excursions with a tiki twist in the Gulf of Mexico and along the river, is just a month away from welcoming back its customers.
"We’ve been closed for about four months and we’ve now got two of the boats ready to go,” explains Dan Hamilton, who runs the business with his wife Marie. “We’re looking forward to relaunching in the next 30 days as we’re getting queries every day from people wondering when we’re starting up again.”
Dan hasn’t been able to restart the business before now because the docks he used at Cape Coral, Downtown Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach, were swept away during the storm – but he’s confident he’ll find new locations soon.
He estimates more than 10,000 boats were lost when the hurricane hit, but miraculously the Nautical Tiki Cruises boats survived with just a few bumps and scratches. His house, however, wasn’t so lucky, and the couple have been living in their boat while repairs take place.
Tucking into lunch with him in North Fort Myers’ Nauti Parrot restaurant and bar, which is sporting a brand-new thatched roof, I ask him if going through this immense upheaval is worth it for the Florida lifestyle. “Yes,” he says with certainty and a smile. “You have to pay to live in paradise.”
Watch TTG’s full video report from Fort Myers below:
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