'I Am Glad To Still Be Alive': Revisiting Fort Myers Beach 1 Month After Hurricane Ian's Landfall

well Amy Craig to be honest this has been one of the hardest months for people who live all across Southwest Florida particularly here on Fort Myers Beach an area that's been called Ground Zero for good reason I'm standing in a driveway of Bonnie McLaughlin's home this is just one example of a home that is still standing it's partially lifted but when you talk about an area that saw about eight feet if not more of water take over entire neighborhoods the extent of the damage is hard to comprehend I'm gonna take you with me here inside her home to give you some of a visual we're going to take it slow here because to be honest this is a tough scene as we walk into her home and take the step in it'll take a look to my right here as we look at the kitchen an area that hasn't really been touched just yet so you'll see all of the mud caked on the floor here all of the countertops the furniture was all covered in water everything is now if not saturated still trying to dry up as we really hit that month Mark but take a look here this is the water line This Home is a little bit lifted that line is over my head think about trying to get through the several hours of just pure Terror inside this home and unfortunately that is what Bonnie had to go through I'm joined here by Bonnie Bonnie let me just say I'm so happy that you're okay that you're here today with us I can't imagine that day for you can you tell me what you had to do you were inside your home when this storm came through what was that like it was fine I was reading a book everything was great I'm used to hurricanes then I noticed that the front steps were disappearing in the water awfully fast and my cat's World looked terrified finally I measured the the well I decided when it reaches the top of the porch we're bailing out of here and I stuffed my cats in the carriers they've reached the top of the porch in no time and the one cat and I waited out into the hurricane well I had my back brace on it gave me some buoyancy I was kind of floating we made it over next door and the neighbors took me and they risked their lives coming in and helping me with the other cat in my pocketbook and and we were fighting out there really holding on to the to the hedges so we didn't float away and stuff was coming at us debris it was pretty wild unlike anything you could have ever imagined or planned for no never never so looking around at your home today I mean I hate to see it in this condition but you and I were just talking it's been a month and you've been able to make some progress I mean it seems that you've gutted almost everything that was covered by that water how does it look today compared to about a month ago oh it looks like another building a month ago it was just a a mess of mud and debris and seaweed and so didn't beer cans that were washed here from the convenience store on the end of the street I found other people's shoes in my house I found a lot of other people's things in my house books there were books everywhere they floated out they floated in you know obviously yourself and so many people across Fort Myers Beach still need so much help they need that support to get them through what's going to be several more challenging months probably years how much help have you been able to receive I know we just met some friends of yours that have been here helping you get you know in the weeds here and get dirty and do what they need to do to try to make this a somewhat better situation for you at what point do you think that you'll see your home in a livable condition again my goodness it's good to say hard to say yeah the United Way has helped out a tremendous amount I don't know what I've done with them but it's it's kind of hard to get along with things when the places were surrounded by mountains of garbage you know the the contents of houses uh I don't know I hope maybe in a month it'll be somewhat restored to normalcy I hope so too I hope so for your sake I hope so for the town of Fort Myers speech such a beautiful town of some wonderful people yourself included to see you go through so much is heartbreaking still today but I want to say I'm so inspired by your spirit thank you how positive you are and I hope that it helps you move forward and I'm sure you think so too I mean with the smile on your face it seems like you're taking every day as best you can I am so glad to still be alive today is my birthday and I lived through the hurricane there's plenty of people didn't my cats made it we're all healthy we're we're happy no complaints here really today is your birthday Bonnie yes happy birthday thank you thank you so much for speaking with us truly I mean if Bonnie is not the example of someone to give you hope throughout this challenging time I don't know who is guys but again as as you look around it is really a reminder of the the reflection of that storm but truly the strength and the resilience that this town exhibits still today okay and we'll be doing so for what could be several years Amy Craig I'm Amy Freeze welcome to Fox weather's YouTube page we have more great videos on the way so make sure to subscribe to stay updated on all things weather

Channel: FOX Weather

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Id: CRuh87HEZJc

Length: 5min 21sec (321 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 28 2022