Hurricane Ian: One Year Later

16 • HURRICANE IAN: ONE YEAR LATER • 2023 SUN PHOTO BY BOB MUDGE Sixty homes in Bay Indies had to be demolished after Hurricane Ian and another dozen or so still await demolition. This home was being removed recently. SUN FILE PHOTO Hurricane Ian destroyed the family room of this manufactured home in Bay Indies last year. Normal? CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Equity LifeStyle Properties, the owner of Bay Indies, prohibits RVs from being on a lot for more than a short period for cleaning or trip preparation. Under the circumstances, however, it allowed the Capozzis RV to remain in place. Meals were served on 17 out of the 31 days in October, Capozzi said — all free, thanks to donations, including one from Equity. To keep the operation running, people would go out and fi ll gas cans, so the RV wouldn't have to travel in search of fuel, he said. The Veterans Club had already been serving meals a few times a month and continues to do so because even now there are people in the community living day to day for whom the club's meal will be the only thing they eat that day. To date, he said, probably 10,000 meals have been served, all from donations. The club recently got 501(c)(3) status to be able to attract more gifts, he said. Capozzi said he considers Ian to have been something of a blessing in disguise for the club because it gave residents a common cause to rally around and re-establish a sense of community. "It takes a village to get a village back to work," he said. The club has grown from a dozen members initially to more than 750 now, he said. Partly, he joked, it's because membership is free, but it can also be attributed to the club's high profi le from the meals being served and the effort members have put in to connect people needing assistance with resources — or even to do the work. Bay Indies is somewhat insular geographically, he said, so residents need to help each other. "It's our neighborhood," he said. Capozzi said repairs would get done much faster after a natural disaster if contractors certifi ed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency could receive an exemption from getting a building permit. Many arrived in Ian's wake, he said, and departed after fi nding out how much licensing and permitting red tape had to be cut through. Insurance will be an even bigger factor in repairs the next time around, he said. Though his home was undamaged — it has hurricane panels, among other safety features — his insurer is dropping him at the end of the year. His options, he said, are to go with another company at more the twice the cost or with Citizens Property Insurance Company for a little less. But at least his home, a relatively newer one, can be insured. Many older ones can't, he said, and another Ian would leave the owners of uninsured properties homeless with nowhere to go. SUN FILE PHOTO Hurricane Ian destroyed this Bay Indies home — one of 60 that had to be demolished.

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