People in a neighborhood in South Fort Myers are relieved, but still anxious, as they endured the second major flooding threat in the past 11 months. Some in the Island Park community watched floodwaters from Idalia inch right up to their front doors early Wednesday morning. Now people are worried that major storms and floods could become a new normal for the area.
Streets were flooded Wednesday in some of the Island Park community, just west of U-S 41 near Alico Road.
Dave Gayness watched the water rise at 2 a.m. Wednesday. Despite his own stress, he started calling and texting neighbors.
"A whole lot of nerves, kind of a repeat of what happened before," Gayness said.
'Before' was Hurricane Ian last September. It flooded Gayness' home with six feet of water. Now, as Hurricane Idalia passed by in the Gulf of Mexico, he couldn't help but fear the worst, again.
"It's been a rough morning, a nerve-wracking morning," Gayness said.
Hassan Shariff got the call at 3 a.m., and saw the water rising. Shariff says his home just was rebuilt after six feet of floodwater came in with Ian.
"Pretty much every home around here, at grade level, had to be re-done. They were lost, just completely lost," Shariff said.
Wednesday morning, he explained, the water stopped before coming into his home.
"Of course I feel some relief, but it is a difficult situation," he said. "You have to assess: what will come with the future storms? I guess we just have to see what happens."
Dave Gayness said he and neighbors worked in the dark to move things to higher levels. He said the water stopped just short of his house.
"All the neighbors pull together, come together to help one another, that's the good part of it," Gayness said. "The bad part is: it could happen again."
Gayness says he's still rebuilding his home from Ian's damage, and couldn't take a second catastrophe.
"That would break me. I'd be done. I would move for sure," he said.
For now some people in Island Park are dealing with some boat docks lifted by the flooding -- relatively minor damage. But some also point out that Idalia was a reminder of what can happen where low elevation, canals and strong storms come together.
Mike Walcher is an Assistant Professor in Journalism at FGCU. He also works some for WGCU News. He can be reached at mwalcher@fgcu.edu
