More than a week after Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida, families were getting a first look at the destruction the powerful storm left behind.
At one mobile home park in Bonita Beach, a barrier island just south of where Ian made landfall last Wednesday, the storm surge wiped away the entire community.
IAN AFTERMATH
Residents were allowed back Thursday to try to salvage whatever mementos they could but found most of the area wiped out.
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Some homes were found on the other side of the bay in mango trees, while others were stuck in docks.
For Linda and Paul Wilczewski, who've lived in the area for 29 years, it was a total loss.
"We kinda had seen pictures ahead of time so we were a little prepared for this but the devastation is incredible," Linda said Thursday. "We can’t believe it, it's like a bomb went off."
The couple said they had no storm issues the first 20 years, but they were hit by Hurricane Irma and now Ian, just months after they retired.
One of the few things they were able to salvage was a mailbox with their name on it.
"It's worse than the pictures," Paul said. "You'd never think something like this would happen and it did happen, it's hard."
Ian caused billions of dollars in damage and killed dozens of people in Florida. Even a week after it passed through, officials warn that more dead could still be found as they continued to inspect the damage.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at a news conference Thursday in the Sarasota County town of Nokomis, trumpeted the widespread restoration of running water through the storm-hit zone and the work toward restoring power. Some 185,000 customers remain without electricity, down from highs above 2.6 million across the state.
He said rescue workers have conducted around 2,500 missions, particularly on barrier islands on the Gulf coast as well as in inland areas that have seen intense flooding. More than 90,000 structures have been inspected and checked for survivors, he said.
He said residents areas devastated by the hurricane had been showing great resilience over the past week.
“I think the attitude is by and large: Sometimes in life you get knocked down, and that’s not really what counts, what counts is are you going to get back up? Are you going to get back up and shoulder on? And people are doing that,” he said.
President Joe Biden toured some of Florida’s hurricane-hit areas on Wednesday, surveying damage by helicopter and then walking on foot alongside DeSantis. The Democratic president and Republican governor pledged to put political rivalries aside to help rebuild homes, businesses and lives. Biden emphasized at a briefing with local officials that the effort could take years.
“The only thing I can assure you is that the federal government will be here until it’s finished,” Biden said.
