NAPLES, Fla. — Hurricane Ian flooded the Vanderbilt Beach Resort and Turtle Club Restaurant.
The resort has flood damage on the lower level, but the hotel rooms were spared.
Owner Mick Moore said there is no water damage to the hotel rooms.
"We have security cameras on the property so we were watching the cameras from home as the storm was coming in until the power went out. We saw the surge come up and the front door was right there. It was hitting the front door," said Mick Moore, owner.
Years ago, Moore said the county required him to put in "breakaway walls." He was turning an old shuffleboard court into a restaurant.
"In the event of storm surge, they would break away and the building would not be damaged and that's exactly what happened when the waves came in, the wall broke away. The front door broke away, the side doors broke away," said Moore.
On Vanderbilt Beach, personal belongings scattered the beach. The hurricane tossed boats into bushes. Other boats ended up on sidewalks.
Numerous people living in Naples Park lost their homes. Many of them decided to leave as they saw the water get closer and closer.
"You can prepare for a hurricane, I'd say. You can get shutters and generators and AC units, but you can't prepare for a flood, you just have to leave," said Chad Sulkes.
"When the flood was really hitting, we grabbed our bags, the cat and we just ran out of the house. We had to...there was no choice," said Sulkes.
Moore said he plans to clean up, rebuild and reopen the resort.
"It's disappointing. It's one of the things, you can't avoid if you live on the coast...we've known this was a possibility for years. Obviously, no one ever wants it to happen, but we're planning on cleaning up," said Moore.