For Mitch Stough and his brother Mike, Fort Myers Beach was their livelihood.
Now it is completely destroyed, they said in an interview on Thursday morning.
“7-Eleven is gone. The whale is gone. All the restaurants are gone,” Mitch told The News-Press. “The whole Times Square is gone. It’s leveled out.”
Fort Myers Beach, along with the other Lee County barrier islands, took the brunt of Hurricane Ian’s attack on the Florida coast. The storm, a Category 4 when it made landfall, produced gusts of wind of 150 mph and a towering storm surge that swept through the center of the city.
Mitch and Mike took shelter on the third floor of the Estero Island Beach Club, where Mike worked. From there they had a front row view of the chaos. Waves poured down Estero Boulevard, destroying the lower floors of buildings and carrying vehicles away, they said.
‘Our car was going to fly,’ said Mitch.
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The resort’s commercial center was ravaged by the hurricane, he said. Mitch, who worked at the landmark Lani Kai resort, said the storm surge stripped the first floor of the vacation spot down to its structural elements.
“It’s just concrete pillars going up. There’s nothing there,” he said. “Fort Myers Beach is gone.”
Thursday morning’s approach to the island on San Carlos Boulevard was a scene of escalating destruction.
A few miles away, boats could be seen being thrown against the guardrails, which had been ripped from their storage depots the previous afternoon. First one, then a few, then more and more. Closer to the Matanzas Pass bridge, entire marina buildings were shattered, wooden docks twisted and shattered. Deputies blocked access to Estero Island, saying the bridge was unsafe to cross.
The Stough brothers spoke to The News-Press after walking across the bridge from Estero Boulevard to their home neighborhood on San Carlos Island.
The hurricane had also caused extensive damage there. Rows of houses had been destroyed by wind and water, shingles had been stripped, windows shattered. A boat blocked the middle of the road, dragged down a driveway by the storm. Residents, horrified, embarked on the monumental task of clearing and picking up chunks of debris from their lawns.
There was no turning back for Mitch and Mike. Mitch said they were planning to go elsewhere.
“There’s nothing for us here. Our jobs are gone. Our car is gone. Nothing is open,” he said. “It’s going to take a few years to get this thing back in shape.”
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hurricane Ian Devastation: Fort Myers Beach Sees Significant Damage
