#Florida Strong - Rescue & Recovery

The end of September saw people up and down Florida’s west coast closely tracking the progress and strengthening of Hurricane Ian and the spaghetti models’ projected landfall.

- Laurie Hauke

 Lots of models seemed to show Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg/Clearwater were likely sites for landfall.

My son Bart scrambled to board up his properties in Clearwater and Palm Harbor. Meanwhile, my sister Carol in Boca Grande headed back early from her Georgia vacation in the mountains to prepare. “I just think this darn thing is going to follow the path of Charley, [Hurricane Charley, 2004] and it is sooo much bigger,” she stated.

My sister and her two sons and a nephew boarded up her son’s house in Englewood as it did not have hurricane windows. At her home in Boca Grande they filled sandbags and packed around the doors and in front of the garage. They pulled the shutters over their huricane proof winds and anything sitting out was put away, Before the bridge was closed, they left to ride out the storm in their other son’s property in East Englewood.

Sure enough, after a sharp east turn by Ian, it made landfall on September 28 in the Fort Myers area, taking much the same path as Hurricane Charley. Hurricane Ian was nearly 500 miles wide. Ian’s eye was 34 miles wide. In 2004, Hurricane Charley’s (a Category 4 storm) whole system was smaller than just the eye of Hurricane Ian. Hurricane Ian was big, strong, and moving slow; pushing and pouring vast amounts of water with its storm surge and heavy rain. “Ian’s 150-mile winds at landfall tied it with previous hurricanes as the fifth strongest hurricane on record to hit the U.S. mainland in the 21st Century to be ranked in the top 10 for wind speed.” (USA Today)

Ian left behind massive wind and storm surge devastation in Everglades City, Marco Island, Naples, Fort Myers, Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, Boca Grande, Englewood, North Port, Venice and even Sarasota. But it wasn’t done.