Hurricane Ian: One Year Later

38 • HURRICANE IAN: ONE YEAR LATER • 2023 We were without electricity for a week, Steve and Suzanne, Don and Susan had cookouts with neighbors bringing food from their freezers before they spoiled. Steve had about four grills and close to a hundred neighbors partaking in the festivities. There must have been a beer distributor there as well. Verizon must have lost their local communication towers for a couple of days because we were out of touch with our love ones who worried so much because they got to view the worst of the damage in the area on national news and didn't realize that with the help of our fabulous neighbors we made out like a champ. Some of the larger homes in Kingsgate had significant damage inside as well as their roofs, but we were very fortunate! Some homeowners have had difficulties with getting back to normal, but we didn't. Our insurance provider notified us of a significant increase and my independent agent said hold off and she got us a better deal. I am so glad I have Trish, my independent agent. I am so glad we live in Kingsgate, a community with so many helpful and fun loving neighbors! - C Edward Dahn, Kingsgate Port Charlotte HOSPITAL AND THE HURRICANE I moved to North Port Florida two years ago from Colorado. I am a nurse who was working in Southwest Florida on Hurricane Team B. The Hurricane Team B assignment means that when the storm is over you must report to the hospital. The hospital Cape Coral Hospital was the only hospital open in the area as HCA Fawcett Hospital lost its roof, Health Park hospital parking lots flooded and other hospitals transferred their patients prior to the storm hitting (Southwest) Florida. The Lee Health Cape Coral hospital was full of patients in their ER and hospital waiting rooms. There was no internet, electricity, cellphone service in North Port or Cape Coral. There were no working septic tanks or running water in the hospital. The ER was full of carts lining the hallways and all I could think of was how could this hospital be open when all the rest are closed? The ER attendants were yelling that the hospital needed assistance as the physician was on his four shifts in a row. The patients had no homes to go home to and those who needed oxygen had no electricity. My manager told employees that if they needed to use the bathroom do not use toilet paper and if you go No. 2, go in a red bag and put it in the trash. The hospital had a huge smell as there were too many patients and not enough assistance. The National Guard and ambulance companies came from other states to assist about a week after the storm. The worst part was the ER could not move any patients to other facilities because the phone system was not working at nursing homes and assistive living facilities. My house did not have running water in North Port and I had no electricity or water to even take a shower for 1.5 weeks while working. I would go home after a 12-hour shift start the generator after pouring gas on myself, feed my dogs and get up and go back to work the next day. At one point while at work, I asked my boss if I could drive to some of the facilities (nursing homes), to see if they would take their residents back as there was hardly any room to walk into the emergency room. When I ventured out on the roads, I quickly found out that driving around neighborhoods was a terrible idea as there were many electric lines laying in the roadways. The Lee County ambulance crew was taken over and given a break during Hurricane Ian, although the ER nurses and physicians did not receive any relief from other states. Many nurses called in sick, there was not enough help in the hospital. My roof was replaced twice in one year and since the hurricane, I moved to Pensacola, Florida hoping another hurricane does not hit this area. - Shelly Cohn, Pensacola 'SAFE SPACE' WITH SNACKS, BIBLE When the news said Ian was heading our way I started getting ready. I have sliders in my kitchen eating area leading to a screened in porch which tends to get flooded. I needed sand bags to keep the water out. So I went to (a hardware store) and asked the cashier where they were. She told me they don't have any but I could buy the empty bags and go to the beach and fill them up. What!?! No way - I'm 85 years old! I can't do that. Then a very nice man heard me and said, come with me. He took me outside by the potting soil bags and told me to buy the floral soil (the cheapest) and use them. That's what I did, and it worked. The morning of the storm started off very windy. The news on TV showed Fort Myers Beach and the surge coming up to the buildings and rising. The announcers kept saying the surge is more deadly than the winds. By 11:30, they announced it's too late to go anywhere and all people should stay inside. I fixed my closet with a chair, snacks, drinks, Bible and Hymn Book. This was my "safe place." About 1:00 p.m. we lot power and no TV. Now we could not tell where the storm was and what was happening. But we still had contact with each other by phone and that was great to know we were all doing OK so far. By this time the winds were really howling so very loud. Then we lost contact with each other. That was NOT good. I went in my bedroom and laid on my bed instead of going into my safe place. From my bed I could see the shadow of the trees in my backyard swaying back and forth through my window protectors. From my bed I sang the second verse of "Lord Take My Hand and Lead Me": "Lord when the tempest rages, I need not fear, For You, the Rock of Ages, Are always near. Close by Your side abiding, I fear no foe, For when Your hand is guiding in peace I go." I felt so peaceful as I watched and listened to the winds howling - it was sooo unbelievably LOUD! Then I saw the screen cage come down. I went and looked out by back window. Wow! A huge branch had fallen off my tree and landed on the cage and part of my roof. The time seemed to stand still. No one to talk to. No news as to where the storm was. I kept waiting for the eye of the storm so I could go out and see how Mark and Kathy were doing. It never came. Then I noticed the wind shifted and was now coming from the other direction. So that meant we're only half way through? It started to get dark. Night was coming and it was still blowing. I thought of the surge they said would be worse than the wind. I was getting scared. There is a story in the Bible where Jesus walked on water to the boat his disciples were in. When Peter saw Jesus he got out of the boat to meet Him. He was fine until he lost his focus on Jesus and that is when he began to sink. I lost my focus on Jesus and became afraid of the surge. I needed to make a plan. How in the world am I going to get on top of my roof? Well, I have this big oak tree in front of my house and I could grab onto that and as the waters went up I'd go up too and then swim over to my roof. I'd have to get out as soon as I saw water coming and hang onto the tree. Then I had this horrible memory of a book I read where a hurricane had swamped the smaller islands near Key West. Months later many skeletons were found in the trees where people had tried to get high enough, but didn't make it. Oh dear God, I prayed, "Please don't let me die in a tree!" Then my phone rang! I was so excited. It was my grandson, Justin, calling from Orlando. He had talked to Mark and Kathy and they told him to call me and call them back to let them know if I was OK. Oh, I was so happy to talk to him. I asked him how long is this going to last. He said about an hour or more and told me to just hang in there. The worst has passed and the winds should start to get weaker. We couldn't call each other but communicated by was of Justin in Orlando. Isn't that weird? I felt better after his call. and laid down on the couch in the living room. God took care of me. He put me to sleep. I never sleep more than 5 hours a night. But, God knew my fear of the surge and spared me. The next thing I knew it was light out and I saw Mark and Kathy walking outside in front of my house. I couldn't believe I slept all night. I went out and was shocked. My big Shady Lady Tree was uprooted and fell over. I never heard it fall, that's how loud those winds were. It fell on my power line and TV cable line. It fell away from my house which is a miracle because the winds did not blow that way. My neighbors were outside and I said, "So much for that surge we were supposed to get." Mark said, "Didn't you see it?" "No." My neighbor said it was coming up our driveways and our mailboxes were under water. She was so scared she called 911 to come and get her. They said they couldn't come and told her to climb up on top of her dresser. Yep, my amazing Father in Heaven protected me from my fear with a good night's rest. That night Kathy's son, arrived from northern Florida with batteries, water, generator, tarps, etc. What a blessing he was. He and Mark knocked the trees down from my roof and away from my door. As they were working Mark was bending down to pick something up and somehow a branch fell in front of him and bounced up and hit him in the face. He yelled and almost fell backwards and all I could see was blood - lots of it. I ran in the house to get a towel for him and one for me to cry in. I prayed and begged God that it didn't gouge his eye. Kathy rushed him down to the corner fire station to see if they had a paramedic who would fix it. They could not help him but told Kathy what to do and she fixed it for him with a butterfly type bandage. It was right above his eye and I was so thankful. The first night after the storm I had lanterns and candles and flash lights handy. I was sitting in my living room reading. By the way, I don't know how anyone ever read by candle light. It's just not bright enough. I was reading and a bug came on my page and I brushed it off. No big deal. But then another one, and another one. They were flying ants and they were all over the place. My living room floor was crawling with them. My lanterns were covered with them. I went in my bedroom and, good, no ants in there. So I went to read in bed. Well, it didn't take long and they followed me. I hopped out of bed and they were crawling in my bed! Oh, my God, please get rid of them. Now I know the Bible tells us we are supposed to be thankful in all situations, right? How can I be thankful for these ants! Then it dawned on me. They aren't hurting me. They don't bite. Dear God, I am so thankful that these little insects don't bite. - Betty Clemens, Rotonda West HOW WE WERE AFFECTED BY HURRICANE IAN "So do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be dismayed for I am God. I will strengthen and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." The first thing in a major storm is to be prepared; get supplies ready and decide if you are going to stay or go. We did both. I have a service dog, Mozart, and we prepared our "home fort" and knew we were ready to hunker down. We had several reasons for staying. First, we may get water, but it wouldn't be up to the ceiling. Other people would have to leave their homes and need to take up the available hotel rooms and gas. It was best for us to stay off the road and not be a part of the congestion. My main reason was my faith in God. I knew he'd be with us. We decided the best place for us when the storm got bad was in our master bathroom. I laid down a blanket for Mozart and myself, got a flashlight out and a pillow. We sat in the living room through the first part of the storm. It wasn't bad at all and then it got so quiet. The storm just ended. I was amazed how they had warned us of such a tame wind. Then suddenly, from the direction it had left, it turned around with a vengeance and returned for round two. This time it meant business! Our glass windows started breaking out and the blinds stood out straight in the room. They clanged like drum sticks only it was not a

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