In a previous post I talked about retiring and moving to Southwest Florida. We have enjoyed these last few years and have made many new friends and had some wonderful times exploring the area especially the towns along the Gulf Coast. Our many stories and pictures sent to our children and their many visits to us have persuaded our son and his family to move down to Florida as well. The excitement at their new beginning turned to fear as the weather reports started talking about a hurricane named Ian as it started to come closer. It was supposed to move on a more northern track but suddenly took a right hand turn with the area of Fort Myers and the towns to it’s south and north being set up as a direct hit. My husband and I had to go back to CT for appointments the week before the storm developed but we were confident that the shutters and impact hurricane windows that we installed would keep them safe. They were as prepared as they could be.
The hours that the storm was hitting relentlessly along the coast were the longest for all of us. We were nervous about them being there by themselves. We were watching the local Florida news on the internet on the tv in Connecticut and were giving them updates by cell phone about what was going on. Their power went out and eventually their cell service was interrupted as towers were destroyed. When our communication with them stopped we were terrified for them and all of the people in the area as the storm kept beating without letting up.
Finally, the next morning after the winds had died down quite a bit and the skies were beginning to clear, our son and his wife and two small children ventured out to see if they could find some coffee, breakfast and cell service. The areas that they drove through were devastated. Trees uprooted, sand covering roads, roofs damaged, cars underwater, roads impassable, non-working traffic lights dangling by a thread from overhead lines, powerlines down all over, streetlights bent at a 45 degree angle, all of these sights were absolutely incredible to see. Nothing was open. No one had power. Everything was still. They said that the stillness was the most frightening part. No traffic noise, no mechanical noise from anywhere, no planes overhead. It was like life had stopped.
Finally, they were able to find a place where they could get cell service to call us to let us know that they were okay. The relief that we felt was overwhelming. They were stunned by all that they saw. At that point we wouldn’t blame them if decided to move back to New England! But now it was time to assess the damage and to try to clean up debris and hopefully find some food. We don’t have a generator so anything in the refrigerator had to be destroyed. The next few days were extremely hard as they cleaned up debris outside our home and for our neighbors who hadn’t come down yet. As nurses, they were called into work the following day to relieve those that had worked through the storm and at that point they were living on peanut butter crackers and water! But we are profoundly blessed to have some neighbors that had a generator and reached out to me to let me know that they were going to make sure that our family had a hot meal. As she said, we will take care of your kids like they are our own! I was so absolutely relieved and grateful that they were going to watch over them. And that they did! Each night until the power came back on they brought wonderful homecooked meals down to our son and his family. Their care and the compassion that they showed to them was something that we will never forget and will always be grateful. As our neighbor said, our neighbors and friends are our Florida family and we always look out for family!
Weeks have gone by now since the day that Ian came to our shores. The devastation in the towns along the shore like Bonita Beach, Fort Myers Beach and the islands of Sanibal, Captiva, Pine Island and Matlacha is heartbreaking. Seeing large boats tossed out of the water and onto the roads and buildings was almost incomprehensible. The area in Fort Myers Beach called Time Square that was always a thriving beach town with shops and restaurants is literally gone. A small strip of restaurants and shops which once housed a Dairy Queen that we all liked to visit is completely gone and replaced by the sandy beach. The pier demolished except for a few pilings sticking up out of the water like soldiers watching over the remnants of life in another time before the scourge of Ian. People’s homes all gone. Stories told daily on the news of people that lost everything including the lives of loved ones. So very unreal. So utterly sad. So terribly devastating.
But…the human spirit still thrives. Neighbors helping neighbors. Strangers helping strangers. People helping each other dig out and try to salvage what little they could. It will take years for some semblance of normalcy to return, if it ever does. The shoreline that we saw before the hurricane is gone. It will never be the same.
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