should I cancel florida trip this week?

[locknload]

We have an employee down there who elected to ride it out. Thankfully..she is ok but the she said it looks like a war zone outside. She will be in survival mode for a few days.

 

[coskigirl]

Sorry I disappeared this afternoon, I had to take a mental health break. In addition to this I’m still awaiting bar exam results so anxiety and stress are through the roof.

To confirm, yes, the obliterated restaurant was Pierside Grill. A better (??) pic is below. The good news is, the hotel and other restaurant, Matanzas on the Bay are standing and have a roof. I don’t yet know if all employees are accounted for. The sad part is that they were looking to sell Matanzas. It was on the market. I don’t know what they do from here but ending a nearly 40 year business like this sucks.

 

[locknload]

This is all so sad. So many have lost everything. Another employee we have is a lifelong FL resident. She lived in Ft Myers for many years and lives in JAX now. She rode out many a hurricane but said she would NOT have stayed for this one. She calls it the Ft Myers "wobble". These storms look they are going to track up through Tampa which is where everyone thought ground zero would be. Sure enough..it started to wobble and took the right hand turn right into Ft. Myers, Naples, Sanibel Island and Marco Island. Those areas are all pretty exposed.

 

[Wasatchman]

This is all so sad. So many have lost everything. Another employee we have is a lifelong FL resident. She lived in Ft Myers for many years and lives in JAX now. She rode out many a hurricane but said she would NOT have stayed for this one. She calls it the Ft Myers "wobble". These storms look they are going to track up through Tampa which is where everyone thought ground zero would be. Sure enough..it started to wobble and took the right hand turn right into Ft. Myers, Naples, Sanibel Island and Marco Island. Those areas are all pretty exposed.

Yeah, my family's beach house is destroyed. Very sad and yet they are safe. I am hoping the loss of life is not as bad as anticipated.

 

[locknload]

Yeah, my family's beach house is destroyed. Very sad and yet they are safe. I am hoping the loss of life is not as bad as anticipated.

Sorry for the loss of the house and happy they are safe.

 

[Jim Kenney]

Yeah, my family's beach house is destroyed. Very sad and yet they are safe. I am hoping the loss of life is not as bad as anticipated.

Sorry to hear!
We have some friends with a home in nearby Placida, FL that we have visited. I know they evacuated, but haven't heard what happened to their place. This is a before shot of their vulnerable location:

 

[graham418]

Looking at some youtube helicopter/drone videos of the aftermath in Ft Meyers beach, and Sanibel. My goodneess, it looks like they were heavily bombed in a war. I have never seen anything like it. My heart goes out to everyone affected

 

[Puck it]

Andrew caused a lot damage also

 

[Jerez]

Andrew caused a lot damage also

View attachment 179470

Yes indeed. We were there for that one. It veered south of the forecasted trajectory and we did OK. We had a work van and so delivered emergency aid to the area hit hardest. It looked like nuclear winter, not a leaf or frond left on the trees as far as you could see. It is hard to capture the scale. The one image that sticks in my mind was seeing a metal guardrail tightly wound around the branch of a lone standing tree. The areas worst hit were some of the poorest in Dade County. It was years to recover fully. I feel for what these people are and are going to go through.

 

[coskigirl]

Today’s update is all but 1 employee are accounted for. The one missing is a 90 year old hostess. We’re hoping friends are taking care of her. Only 3 employees lost everything. I can’t believe we’re saying “only” like that’s a good thing. They have 6 buildings in the area, it appears 2 are standing.

@Wasatchman I’m sorry to hear of your family’s loss.

 

[Wasatchman]

Today’s update is all but 1 employee are accounted for. The one missing is a 90 year old hostess. We’re hoping friends are taking care of her. Only 3 employees lost everything. I can’t believe we’re saying “only” like that’s a good thing. They have 6 buildings in the area, it appears 2 are standing.

@Wasatchman I’m sorry to hear of your family’s loss.

Thanks @coskigirl and glad to hear the relatively good news on your end. I say relatively as you know how much worse it could have been given the destruction.

Best wishes to your family in the recovery. This is going to be a long and arduous road back for FMB.

 

[Daniel]

What a devastating hurricane! When much younger I worked in an occupation that would leave me laid-off during the 3.5 - 4 coldest months of the year. During a couple of those winters, I lived at the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin (between the Caloosahatchee and Edison Bridges) on a sailboat. I alternated my winter home between Ft. Myers and Negril, Jamaica every other year. All occurring well before I became a skier and snowboarder; otherwise, I would have moved out west and collected unemployment and supplemental unemployment from the union I belonged to while skiing and riding every day. I scanned the news and found that the FMYB and many of the vessels docked there sustained heavy damage. Have spent quite a bit of time north of there in Punta Gorda and Venice (Charlotte and Sarasota Counties) in recent years and see that both communities experienced tremendous property loss as well. What a terrifying experience for those who didn't evacuate inland! Will be interesting to see the impact on the State of Florida run/sponsored property insurance program. Private insurers pretty much closed up shop and stop writing policies in much of FL years ago due to unacceptable risk and property insurance premiums were already very high pre-Ian.

Boat residents have harrowing night weathering Hurricane Ian at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin

The Fort Myers Yacht Basin was hit hard by Hurricane Ian as many of the marina's boating residents lost their homes. Others count themselves lucky.

www.news-press.com

 

[Wasatchman]

What a devastating hurricane! When much younger I worked in an occupation that would leave me laid-off during the 3.5 - 4 coldest months of the year. During a couple of those winters, I lived at the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin (between the Caloosahatchee and Edison Bridges) on a sailboat. I alternated my winter home between Ft. Myers and Negril, Jamaica every other year. All occurring well before I became a skier and snowboarder; otherwise, I would have moved out west and collected unemployment and supplemental unemployment from the union I belonged to while skiing and riding every day. I scanned the news and found that the FMYB and many of the vessels docked there sustained heavy damage. Have spent quite a bit of time north of there in Punta Gorda and Venice (Charlotte and Sarasota Counties) in recent years and see that both communities experienced tremendous property loss as well. What a terrifying experience for those who didn't evacuate inland! Will be interesting to see the impact on the State of Florida run/sponsored property insurance program. Private insurers pretty much closed up shop and stop writing policies in much of FL years ago due to unacceptable risk and property insurance premiums were already very high pre-Ian.

Boat residents have harrowing night weathering Hurricane Ian at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin

The Fort Myers Yacht Basin was hit hard by Hurricane Ian as many of the marina's boating residents lost their homes. Others count themselves lucky.

www.news-press.com

I think the State of Florida is going to need to step in big time or there is risk the entire state of Florida's housing market collapses. Without a properly functioning insurance market you won't have a properly functioning housing market and this event could easily cause absolute mayhem to the Florida insurance industry over the next 12 -24 months on a statewide level. Hence the state of Florida is going to need to step in and be a significant party to keeping the insurance industry alive given how precarious it was already becoming before this event. As an aside, even in Utah and other Western states it is getting increasingly difficult for condo buildings to get master insurance policies as insurers are concerned about the increasing wildfire risk.

On a side note many people in the Fort Myers area were underinsured due to cost and/or availability. I think the government may also need to ultimately step in with pretty sizeable bailouts or be willing to let the area languish economically for decades. FMB is highly tourist dependent and I think without significant federal and state aid i don't see a sizeable rebuild happening, particularly with so many underinsured being wiped out.

 

[Living Proof]

The rebuilding of Fl. beachside communities will be problematic. I live on a barrier island in coastal South Jersey where Sandy came ashore with results similar to Ian, but, our area is much more a summer season attraction with few year round residents.

One issue with rebuilding is that we are in a flood zone. All buildings must be built with the first livable floor above the government established flood height above sea level. On the lowest parts of out island, new home construction must have 6 to 8 feet above grade for the first floor. To obtain flood insurance, which is mandated for obtaining home insurance, all homes are built foundations supported by wood pilings. It is keeping land surveyors and township building inspections very busy to assure compliance. New homes are shockingly high compared to neighboring homes built prior to flood zone issues.

So, rebuilding in coastal Fl. will be much more expensive, and, the immediate issue is how to clear out all the debris. You can't go back into moldy flood damaged home even if the structure remains.
It is overwhelming sad to think about. A way of life has changed for those residents.

 

[chilehed]

Andrew caused a lot damage also

View attachment 179470

I'd just moved north when that happened, lived in Miami my whole life and when I went back to check on friends in Perrine, Naranja and Homestead I could barely figure out where I was. Thirty years later I can still see how Andrew changed the landscape.

Send water, bleach and cleaning supplies, hygeine products, non-perishable food and prayers.

 

[ADKmel]

I think the State of Florida is going to need to step in big time or there is risk the entire state of Florida's housing market collapses. Without a properly functioning insurance market you won't have a properly functioning housing market and this event could easily cause absolute mayhem to the Florida insurance industry over the next 12 -24 months on a statewide level. Hence the state of Florida is going to need to step in and be a significant party to keeping the insurance industry alive given how precarious it was already becoming before this event. As an aside, even in Utah and other Western states it is getting increasingly difficult for condo buildings to get master insurance policies as insurers are concerned about the increasing wildfire risk.

On a side note many people in the Fort Myers area were underinsured due to cost and/or availability. I think the government may also need to ultimately step in with pretty sizeable bailouts or be willing to let the area languish economically for decades. FMB is highly tourist dependent and I think without significant federal and state aid i don't see a sizeable rebuild happening, particularly with so many underinsured being wiped out.

AHH the Florida Insurance industry. My BFF- had her home flooded from IVAN- she learned from neighbors people without insurance FEMA came in and wrote blank checks. She had been paying insurance for 40yrs- Insurance offered her 25K on a 350K policy- refused to work with her-told her they would only work with an arbitrator who charges 25-30% of the settlement- needless to say she had to take out a loan to repair her house that finally got finished last year. That's really really outrageous. right now we're praying for the water to subside- it's 1" from her garage- her house was raised as much as she could afford- She's in Flager Beach area.

Prayers and hopes for sunshine to all that are affected by IAN- one of the worst storms ever.

photos of Flagler Beach yesterday. their pier is also gone.

 

[Jim Kenney]

This one is worth watching! USCG rescue video from Sanibel:

 

[crosscountry]

We have an employee down there who elected to ride it out. Thankfully..she is ok but the she said it looks like a war zone outside. She will be in survival mode for a few days.

Why would anyone "elect" to ride it out?

It's one thing if you're stuck for whatever reason (no car, 1st responder etc). But if evac is practical, why stay?

 

[scott43]

Why would anyone "elect" to ride it out?

It's one thing if you're stuck for whatever reason (no car, 1st responder etc). But if evac is practical, why stay?

People have their own thought processes. They may want to stay because they don't want to leave their home. They may think it won't be a big deal. Who knows.. People aren't always logical or practical.. human condition...

 

[dbostedo]

People have their own thought processes. They may want to stay because they don't want to leave their home. They may think it won't be a big deal. Who knows.. People aren't always logical or practical.. human condition...

I'd add that some people don't have any obvious place to go, or money to do it, depending on the situation.