'Building back': Fort Myers locals adjust to new norm after Hurricane Ian
FT. MYERS BEACH, Fla. - For so many who call Fort Myers Beach home, the sound of buildings being torn down has become a reality.
"Every day it’s a cleanup. Whether it’s upstairs or out here in the yard, every day is a cleanup day," said Artis Chester.
Most days you’ll find Artis Chester working to clear debris outside of her home of 30 years.
"She’s still standing. Strong bones. The structural engineer said she had strong bones," shared Chester.
Artis Chester reflects on how more has to be done to clean up the city.
When Hurricane Ian moved through Fort Myers Beach, rising water took out the stairs to her home and caused even more damage.
It was more than 70 days before Chester was able to comes back to her home. When she did, she learned 18 of her neighbors lost everything, including the very foundations of their homes.
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"It breaks my heart. These are all of my friends," she said.
"Everybody banded together, working together. We are here for one another. We are glad to have a place for the community to come and kind of blow off steam and kind of get a little sense of normalcy down on the beach," explained Matt Faller, the General Manager of The Beach Bar.
Ft. Myers is still rebuilding after Hurricane Ian destroyed many businesses and homes.
The Beach Bar reopened 97 days after Ian passed. They now operate with temporary trailers where their building once stood.
"We didn’t even expect the storm to hit like it did. Myself, the other manager and a couple of employees we sandbagged the whole property about waist high, came back and our second story was gone. Coming back was kind of traumatic for everybody and didn’t know what to expect in the first few weeks, but the resiliency of this community really stood the test of time," shared Faller.
That resilience can be seen with food trucks and trailers throughout the beach city. They have taken the place where businesses and restaurants once stood.
Faller said the Beach Bar sign brought hope. It was split into six different pieces and found by staff in various parts of the area.
The sign represents the resilience of the community post hurricane.
"We pieced it back together and screwed it back into the plywood, and it was just in time for our grand reopening on January 21st. It was a good sign of the community coming back together, our sign coming back together and the bar coming back together for what we can make it," said Faller.
The day after Ian passed, we met Tina Tomasino. She had fired up grills and fed the community.
Tomasino is the owner of Hurricane Tina’s 5-Star Dive Bar.
"Anything we can do to help one another, we will do it," she told FOX 13 at the time.
A red line on her concrete wall now shows how high water rose into her bar.
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"I know people are like, they told us it would, it was going to come, the storm surge. Nobody realized and that’s not as high as other people," she said.
Her bar is back open.
Tomasino said many of her regulars have been forced to relocate, but she continues doing what she can to help.
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"We were just happy we were able to help everybody out and get everybody adjusted and be able to live through this disaster. People are still living through it. People have relocated. There’s homes still out there not done. They are still living through it. We try to help them out, but we are doing what we can," said Tomasino.
Tomasino and so many others say support is still needed whether it’s grabbing a cold beer, a sandwich or pitching in to help.
"We are growing back. We will be strong. We want you all here," she stated.