![]() Hussey, who owns Paradise Parasail, isn't sure how many of the company's boats survived the storm. He spent two days trying to clean up what was left, heartbroken to see his chainsaws and other debris removal tools destroyed.Ĭhase Hussey, 36, said he couldn't sit still after he watched his home float away, so he started volunteering to shuttle people and supplies to Pine Island, Fla., on Monday. Most of them are burning their own gas to operate there's no government subsidy or fuel depot.ĭepending on the day, a parade of party barges, airboats and jet skis join small speedboats in making the 2-mile float from ramps and docks on the mainland to the temporary staging area amid the rubble of the Yucatan Waterfront Bar and Grill, which sits next to the bridge from Pine Island to Matlacha.Ĭhase Hussey, 36, lost his home near Fort Myers Beach during the storm – he watched it float away from his neighbor's second-story window. ![]() The people helping – boat captains, fishermen, area residents – say they're compelled to do something. Coast Guard, which is managing the water-based evacuation of the island. Dozens of volunteers are ferrying donated supplies to the islands in private boats, working alongside the U.S. Under normal circumstances, leaving Pine Island for the mainland is not much more than a quick drive over bridges and then you're in Cape Coral, with Fort Myers a little farther down the road.īut now, the only access is by boat. But the destruction is everywhere, and it breaks Wright's heart to see it.Ī section of Pine Island Road along Matlacha was gone after Hurricane Ian on Sunday. James City on the southern tip appears to have been hit the hardest, while Bokeelia on the north end suffered less. THIS FLORIDA WOMAN SURVIVED HER 'BIGGEST MISTAKE' IN HURRICANE IAN: Why experts say many others didn't. About 9,000 people live on Pine Island and the surrounding areas year-round, but it swells dramatically as snowbirds from the North soak up the sun from the waterside bars and restaurants. Ian slammed into Pine Island with 150 mph winds, snapping telephone poles and trees, ripping roofs from homes, and tumbling mobile homes and RVs. Once you lose that, you lose your confidence," she said. Where World Central Kitchen is distributing free hot meals. Where volunteers are providing internet service powered by a rumbling semitruck and Elon Musk's Starlink. She pointed out where a man with a tractor cleared neighbors' yards and moved a damaged Jeep to safety. After all, she said, it's not as if she has to get to work.Ĭhristine Wright said she drove from one end of Pine Island, Fla., to the other on Monday to offer help and look at damage from Hurricane Ian. She indulged a USA TODAY journalist with a tour. Now, five days after the storm, Wright is helping those who need it, delivering water and supplies to friends, checking on damaged houses and stopping to talk to a stranger who needs to report a water leak. Her home suffered very little damage, in part thanks to a neighbor's tree that fell early and protected her windows from flying debris. ![]() Wright rode out Ian in her townhome in Bokeelia on the narrow island's north end. ![]() ![]() "You can’t help an act of God," said Wright, 57. She didn't want to make the same mistake twice: Hurricane Ian's destruction is inescapable here, and getting the van fixed would be impossible because the mainland bridge was washed out. – Cigarette dangling from her fingers, Christine Wright slowed her battered Oldsmobile minivan to a crawl, inching over a power line lying across the road.Ī few minutes earlier, she zipped past in the other direction, nearly entangling the van's rear wheels and ripping off the rear axle. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |