Explores Fort Myers Three years after the devastation of Hurricane Ian

[Panina]

I just booked a timeshare for Fort Myers for at the end of this year and was wondering on the progress. Came across this by accident. Thought some Tuggers would have interest in seeing this.

FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray explores Fort Myers, Florida, three years after the devastation of Hurricane Ian. | Fox Weather

Fort Myers, Florida, has been transformed to new life three years after Hurricane Ian | Latest Weather Clips | FOX Weather

FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray explores Fort Myers, Florida, three years after the devastation of Hurricane Ian.

www.foxweather.com

 

[PigsDad]

Well, let's just say that he definitely has an agenda he wants to put out there. He makes it look all doom and gloom, which is not very representative of what it is like there today, IMHO.

Kurt

 

[Panina]

Well, let's just say that he definitely has an agenda he wants to put out there. He makes it look all doom and gloom, which is not very representative of what it is like there today, IMHO.

Kurt

I looked at it differently, lots of progress with more that has to occur. Maybe I wasn't really listening to what he said, more watching what was shown.

 

[PigsDad]

I looked at it differently, lots of progress with more that has to occur. Maybe I wasn't really listening to what he said, more watching what was shown.

Have you been there lately? I was last there a couple months ago (I'm back in CO for the summer now). He makes it look like a deserted area, and it is certainly not that way today. Lots of activity, lots of businesses, lots of people, etc. Yes, there are areas of some empty lots that haven't been rebuilt yet, but the overall tone of his video is very misleading, IMO.

Kurt

 

[Emmjay]

He says Ft Meyer’s Beach over and over. That area is different from Ft Meyer’s. FMB is such a vulnerable long narrow spit of land and had lots of rustic ramshackle places plus rv lots mixed in with mansions. The only road through was always under construction with terrible traffic. It is devastating for them as it wiped the slate clean and will never be the same except for the traffic.

 

[pedro47]

I looked at it differently, lots of progress with more that has to occur. Maybe I wasn't really listening to what he said, more watching what was shown.

To the OP, I too , can see progress with more to come. IMHO.

 

[andre10056]

I just booked a timeshare for Fort Myers for at the end of this year and was wondering on the progress. Came across this by accident. Thought some Tuggers would have interest in seeing this.

FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray explores Fort Myers, Florida, three years after the devastation of Hurricane Ian. | Fox Weather

Fort Myers, Florida, has been transformed to new life three years after Hurricane Ian | Latest Weather Clips | FOX Weather

FOX Weather Correspondent Robert Ray explores Fort Myers, Florida, three years after the devastation of Hurricane Ian.

www.foxweather.com

Your post mentioned Fort Myers. Since I'm unaware of timeshares actually in the city of Fort Myers, I'm assuming you mean Fort Myers Beach.

Progress has been painstaking and slow. Getting work permits has been a Herculean task. Finding contractors is more difficult than elsewhere in the country, and as anyone in the US knows seeking home renovation, it's a challenge everywhere.

Still too many timeshares have this on their websites:

Windward Passage Resort - Ft. Myers Beach, FL

Sand, Sun, Water and Fun. It’s all here waiting for you. When you’re not on the beach, enjoy relaxing in the hot tub or taking a dip in the heated pool. If you want to stay busy, we offer a variety of amenities. Take a bike out or go for a stroll to Times Square to experience the charm that Ft...

windwardpassage.us

Either they're completely shut down or they're only partially open while approvals are still being sought to repair/rebuild other areas of their resort. Examples: Tropical Sands. Second floor is open. First floor needs to be rebuilt. Caribbean Beach Club: North and Center Building (both raised up on cement columns) open. South Building (was built at ground level): needs significant rebuild/renovation.

My favorite rec center on earth is still closed. I played many a great bball game on its incredible indoor courts:

Bay Oaks Park | Town of Fort Myers Beach, FL - Official Website

Landing Page for Bay Oaks Park

www.fortmyersbeachfl.gov

Yet, everything at this point has been pretty well cleaned up so at least you won't be walking on shards of glass on the beach sand and swimming through oil slicks and won't have to maneuver around mounds of rubble as you try to traverse the roadways. But, for a while there post-hurricanes (plural...mostly Ian but also follow-up hurricanes), you could have experienced the aftermath of World War II in Germany.

And of course some businesses, bars, restaurants, etc. have moved into whatever buildings may have remained standing so there will be ample things to do. Restaurants have also been supplemented by food trucks.

But I'm concerned about forecasts that this year will be a particularly active hurricane season...so stay tuned.

 

[rapmarks]

At which timeshare are you booked Panina?
My daughter stayed at Pink Shell in Dec 23
And my brother in law stayed there in January 25
It was fine there but not much around it was completed.

 

[andre10056]

At which timeshare are you booked Panina?
My daughter stayed at Pink Shell in Dec 23
And my brother in law stayed there in January 25
It was fine there but not much around it was completed.

I always thought the Pink Shell was not a timeshare resort but, whadayaknow, it's listed in Interval's resort directory. Although I've never seen an exchange listing there. Is the Belle Air Beach Club open? Maybe there. Otherwise, I've seen Tropical Sands and Seawatch-on-the-Beach available for exchange on occasion during the past few months.

 

[Panina]

At which timeshare are you booked Panina?
My daughter stayed at Pink Shell in Dec 23
And my brother in law stayed there in January 25
It was fine there but not much around it was completed.

HGVC Seawatch on the Beach. I stood there years ago and it was nice.

 

[andre10056]

HGVC Seawatch on the Beach. I stood there years ago and it was nice.

It was and is very nice. And the "end of the year" is a tremendous time to visit Fort Myers Beach. But with sea levels rising and the Gulf waters getting ever warmer fueling more powerful hurricanes, I believe (with profound regret) that Fort Myers Beach will yet again get clobbered in the near future. It may ultimately become like some areas in the Keys where Monroe County will no longer allow oft-damaged properties to be rebuilt as the county mandates that flood prone areas be returned to nature.

So you're doing the right thing by visiting but not owning there.

I suspect that Paradise may soon be Lost.

 

[Brett]

Well, let's just say that he definitely has an agenda he wants to put out there. He makes it look all doom and gloom, which is not very representative of what it is like there today, IMHO.

Kurt

I agree. We stop by Fort Meyers every year for the wildlife areas like Ding Darling and Six mile Cypress and it's been resilient. (Admittedly we don't go to the beaches)
Most coastal areas are threatened by sea level rising so who knows what it will look like in 50 or 100 years

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/...uilds-after-hurricanes-ian-helene-and-milton/

 

[rapmarks]

I agree. We stop by Fort Meyers every year for the wildlife areas like Ding Darling and Six mile Cypress and it's been resilient. (Admittedly we don't go to the beaches)
Most coastal areas are threatened by sea level rising so who knows what it will look like in 50 or 100 years

View attachment 111401

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/...uilds-after-hurricanes-ian-helene-and-milton/

Our favorite areas. Have you ever stopped at a koreshan?

 

[andre10056]

I agree. We stop by Fort Meyers every year for the wildlife areas like Ding Darling and Six mile Cypress and it's been resilient. (Admittedly we don't go to the beaches)
Most coastal areas are threatened by sea level rising so who knows what it will look like in 50 or 100 years

View attachment 111401

https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/...uilds-after-hurricanes-ian-helene-and-milton/

No one (including the weatherperson who the OP's link highlighted) is suggesting that Ding Darling, a wildlife preserve in Sanibel Island, and Six Mile Cypress, a wildlife preserve in the city of Fort Myers, won't be resilient. In fact, the OP's linked video was, in my opinion, rather upbeat about building clean-up and renovation efforts on Fort Myers Beach so I don't know what the "agenda" allegedly is.

The concern going forward is not about grass, shrubs, and palm trees and the wildlife that resides therein, but about humans building structures on a barrier island that is getting increasingly battered by multiple hurricanes such that buildings have still not reopened three years later. Hence the difficulty in getting work permits as the powers that be want designs to incorporate the perception that the island will likely be pounded yet again. But the problem is that even their perceptions about the future may be overly optimistic. Perhaps it's wishful thinking to believe that building such-and-such way will allow structures to survive. Certainly, building methodology changes may not stop erosion and potential significant changes to the island's footprint

Time will tell.

 

[Brett]

Our favorite areas. Have you ever stopped at a koreshan?

no, I see Koreshan State Park has an interesting origin story
I'll make a note to check it out next year - thx

 

[rapmarks]

no, I see Koreshan State Park has an interesting origin story
I'll make a note to check it out next year - thx

An interesting point is the buildings have been around since early 1900s and have not been destroyed by hurricanes or flooding

 

[PigsDad]

An interesting point is the buildings have been around since early 1900s and have not been destroyed by hurricanes or flooding

It's amazing how much more protected you are from hurricane damage just being a mile or two inland vs. close to the shore or on a barrier island.

I was looking at visiting this place last year, but never made it. Maybe next year I'll get there; it's only about a 20 min drive from our home down there.

Kurt

 

[rapmarks]

It's amazing how much more protected you are from hurricane damage just being a mile or two inland vs. close to the shore or on a barrier island.

I was looking at visiting this place last year, but never made it. Maybe next year I'll get there; it's only about a 20 min drive from our home down there.

Kurt

Take the guided tour. An interesting group. They once owned all the way to fort myers beach, they thought their leader would rise from the dead and kept his body in a bathtub until the health department put a stop to it.

 

[rapmarks]

Koreshans were celibate and so the last of them have passed on
They believed world was concave and hollow , we were on the inside of the globe
The complex was managed by 7 women who lived in the Planetary court built in 1904 and still standing.

The Ghost Town left Behind by an American Sect of Hollow Earth Believers

The Planetary Court, seat of power for the Koreshan Unity, built in 1904 In the once harsh and bug-infested swamplands of southwest Florida, lies the remains of a strange 19th century settlement. Founded by a charismatic leader who led his members into the quagmire to build a "New Jerusalem" and

www.messynessychic.com