A woman who lives on San Carlos Island describes the horrifying decision to stay on Fort Myers Beach during Hurricane Ian.
Margie Titus stayed with friends on Fort Myers Beach during Ian, they rode out the hurricane in a three-story home.
She said she had been on Fort Myers Beach for a number of other hurricanes, including Wilma and Charley.
“This was like nothing I had ever experienced in 32 years,” said Titus.
“It was horrendous because we were three stories up watching the garages buckle. We had eight homes just in our radius that were just washed away. My heart goes out to them because I still have my home. It was underwater, but I still have it,” she added.
Titus said the day after the hurricane passed, she walked nearly 18 miles to get back to her home on San Carlos Island.
“The only way to get anywhere is to walk, and the road to the beach was all covered in wires and sand and mud, you know,” said Titus.
Brad Smith lived in the Bon Air community near the beach. His mobile home community is destroyed along with San Carlos Lodge Mobile Home Park.
We met Smith as he searched through mounds of debris looking for sentimental items.
He pulled out a statue of Saint Francis, something he gave to his wife as a present.
“It’s heavy. It’s cement, so I knew, I was hoping, it couldn’t float away; some of the stuff did,” said Smith.
Smith also wanted to recover the windows to his mobile home park. He said he recently installed the windows after his mother died.
“My mom just passed away, and the money I got from my mom, I bought windows to put in my Florida room. I figured every time I slid my windows open, I’d say, 'thanks, Mom.'” said Smith.
Smith said losing everything has been an emotional ride.
“My wife has a Christmas display, and I came to get it. It was something in the family, and I came to get that, but I haven’t found it. I’m going to keep digging,” said Smith as he held back tears.
Hurricane Ian left a long and unforgiving path of destruction.
“We are Fort Myers Beach strong. We are going to rebuild. This is a wonderful, beautiful community full of wonderful, beautiful people. We’re going to rebuild, but this is years of recovery,” said Titus.
