FORT MYERS BEACH — Eight months ago, chef Michael Cellura had a restaurant job and had just moved into a fancy new camper home on Fort Myers Beach. Now, after Hurricane Ian swept all that away, he lives in his older Infiniti sedan with a 15-year-old long-haired chihuahua named Ginger.
Like hundreds of others, Cellura was left homeless after the Category 5 hurricane blasted the barrier island last September with ferocious winds and storm surge as high as 15 feet (4 meters). Like many, he’s struggled to navigate insurance payouts, understand federal and state assistance bureaucracy and simply find a place to shower.
“There’s a lot of us like me that are displaced. Nowhere to go,” Cellura, 58, said during a recent interview next to his car, sitting in a commercial parking lot along with other storm survivors housed in recreational vehicles, a converted school bus, even a shipping container. “There’s a lot of homeless out here, a lot of people living in tents, a lot of people struggling.”
Recovery is far from complete in hard-hit Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Pine Island, with this year’s Atlantic hurricane season officially beginning June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a roughly average tropical storm season forecast of 12 to 17 named storms, five to nine becoming hurricanes and one to four powering into major hurricanes with winds greater than 110 mph (177 kph).
Another weather pattern that can suppress Atlantic storms is the El Nino warming expected this year in the Pacific Ocean, experts say. Yet the increasingly warmer water in the Atlantic basin fueled by climate change could offset the El Nino effect, scientists say.
In southwest Florida, piles of debris are everywhere. Demolition and construction work is ongoing across the region. Trucks filled with sand rumble to renourish the eroded beaches. Blank concrete slabs reveal where buildings, many of them once charming, decades-old structures that gave the towns their relaxed beach vibe, were washed away or torn down.
Some people, like Fort Myers Beach resident Jacquelyn Velazquez, are living in campers or tents on their property while they await sluggish insurance checks or building permits to restore their lives.
“It’s, you know, it’s in the snap of the finger. Your life is never going to be the same,” she said next to her camper, provided under a state program. “It’s not the things that you lose. It’s just trying to get back to some normalcy.”
Ian claimed more than 156 lives in the U.S., the vast majority in Florida, according to a comprehensive NOAA report on the hurricane. In hard-hit Lee County — location of Fort Myers Beach and the other seaside towns — 36 people died from drowning in storm surge and more than 52,000 structures suffered damage, including more than 19,000 destroyed or severely damaged, a NOAA report found.
Even with state and federal help, the scale of the disaster has overwhelmed these small towns that were not prepared to deal with so many problems at once, said Chris Holley, former interim Fort Myers Beach town manager.
“Probably the biggest challenge is the craziness of the debris removal process. We’ll be at it for another six months,” Holley said. “Permitting is a huge, huge problem for a small town. The staff just couldn’t handle it.”
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The colorful Margaritaville complex, still under construction, is seen past more modest structures damaged in last year's Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Even with state and federal help, the scale of the disaster has overwhelmed these small towns that were not prepared to deal with so many problems at once, said Chris Holley, former interim Fort Myers Beach town manager. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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In this drone photo, restaurants operate from food trucks with outdoor seating in the Times Square area, where many businesses were completely destroyed during Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. With this year's Atlantic hurricane season officially beginning June 1, recovery is far from complete in hard-hit Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Pine Island. Blank concrete slabs reveal where buildings, many of them once charming, decades-old structures that gave the towns their relaxed beach vibe, were washed away or torn down. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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A mix of local residents and visitors sit outside at The Beach Bar, which was one of the early businesses to reopen out of a trailer last January, several months after Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. The bar's ownership hopes to start rebuilding their bar and two apartments this summer, this time out of concrete instead of wood. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Eighteen-year-old Gioia Fallon, left, and Robby Hildebrand, who grew up in Fort Myers and have been coming to the beach since they were kids, drink a toast as they sit in front of a backdrop of demolished buildings, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. "Probably the biggest challenge is the craziness of the debris removal process," said Chris Holley, former interim Fort Myers Beach town manager. "We'll be at it for another six months." (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Residents and tourists watch a sunset over the ocean in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. In spite of the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Ian, the sense among many survivors is one of hope for the future, even if it looks very different. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Omar Del Rio, a civil engineer currently subcontracted to FEMA, and his wife Maria wheel shopping carts full of groceries and supplies to their car as they leave the free food pantry operating underneath the heavily damaged Beach Baptist Church in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Thursday, May 11, 2023. Before Hurricane Ian devastated Fort Myers Beach in 2022, the Del Rios rented an apartment on the island, living near the rented homes of their adult son and daughter, who each lived with their spouse and three children. All three homes were lost in the storm, and the six adults and six children were forced to spend months living together in one camper. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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A man works inside the Yo Samara's food truck in the Times Square area of Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Though many businesses remain closed and some do not plan to return, food trucks and campers now dot the Times Square area and other points along the beach, as restaurants and bars find ways to reopen without their former infrastructure. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Michael Cellura, 58, washes the few clothes he has after his camper home and belongings were destroyed in Hurricane Ian, in a washing machine trailer outside Beach Baptist Church in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Thursday, May 11, 2023. With so many people still in limbo after Hurricane Ian, places like the heavily damaged Beach Baptist Church provide a lifeline, with a food pantry, a hot lunch stand, showers, toilets, and even laundry facilities for anyone to use. "I believe that things will work out. I'm strong. I'm a survivor," said Cellura. "Every day I wake up, it's another day to just continue on and try to make things better." (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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A man shops inside the free food pantry operating underneath the heavily damaged Beach Baptist Church in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Thursday, May 11, 2023. Prior to Hurricane Ian, the church had been assisting two to three dozen people without homes in the area, said Pastor Shawn Critser. Following the storm, that population swelled to several thousand, many gradually moving into tents or cars, and later trailers. More than seven months after the storm, says the pastor, they still serve about 1200 families per month, as many people are still living without running water, facilities for cooking, or sufficient funds. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Chef Michael Cellura holds his 15-year-old dog Ginger as he stands beside the car the pair have been living out of for months, after Cellura lost his camper in Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Thursday, May 11, 2023. There's a lot of us like me that are displaced. Nowhere to go," said Cellura, 58, who sleeps in a parking lot along with other survivors living in RVs and a converted school bus. Cellura, whose waterfront workplace never reopened and who only found work as a chef again in April, has done odd jobs detailing and customizing cars to afford his $500/month car payments and enough gas to keep Ginger safely air conditioned while he works. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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A skeleton in sunglasses sits beside a sign reading "Just waiting for the insurance check," outside the closed Kona Kai Motel on Sanibel Island, Fla., Thursday, May 11, 2023. In Sanibel, the lingering damage is not quite as widespread as in Fort Myers Beach, but many businesses remain shuttered as they are repaired and storm debris is everywhere. Seven local retail stores have moved into a shopping center in mainland Fort Myers, hoping to continue to operate while awaiting insurance payouts, construction permits, or both before returning to the island. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Jacquelyn, left, and Timothy Velazquez spend time on the back porch of their home, which flooded to within inches of the ceiling during Hurricane Ian's passage last September, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Ian claimed more than 156 lives in the U.S., the vast majority in Florida, according to a comprehensive NOAA report on the hurricane. In hard-hit Lee County, location of Fort Myers Beach and the other seaside towns, 36 people died from drowning in storm surge and more than 52,000 structures suffered damage, including more than 19,000 destroyed or severely damaged, a NOAA report found. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Jacquelyn Velazquez carries laundry, cleaned in an outdoor washing machine and dried on a line, back into the trailer where her family of three is living while waiting to be able to repair their home's leaking roof and rebuild the gutted interior, which flooded nearly to the ceiling during last year's Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. After many months renting a small room in a home on the mainland, the Velazquez family received a camper in April from a state assistance program, allowing them to live with their daughter, home from college for the summer, while they wrangle with their insurance company and wait for permits to move forward on repairs. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Grumpy, the Velazquez family cat, who managed to survive inside as storm waters reached within inches of the ceiling, sits out front of the house, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Jacquelyn Velazquez sits on the front porch of her family's home, which had to be gutted after Hurricane Ian sent storm waters to within inches of the ceiling and damaged the house's roof, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. The Velazquez family feels lucky to have survived the storm, which they rode out on the second floor of a neighbor's home, and to be permitted by FEMA to rebuild their historic wooden house rather than tear it down. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Jacquelyn Velazquez looks at water dripping through the damaged roof onto the floor of her family's gutted home during a rain shower, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. "It's, you know, it's in the snap of the finger. Your life is never going to be the same," said Velazquez. "It was very mentally traumatic. It's not the things that you lose. It's just trying to get back to some normalcy." (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Jacquelyn and Timothy Velazquez sit inside the gutted shell of their 910 square foot two-bedroom home, which was damaged when Hurricane Ian's storm surge rose to within inches of the ceiling, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. The couple has laid down new flooring, but is still battling with their insurance company to have the damage to the leaking roof covered, while waiting on permits for the renovation work. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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A rainbow arcs over the back porch of the Hurricane Ian-damaged home of the Velazquez family in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Since buying the house with her husband in 2000, Jacquelyn Velazquez said she had lushly landscaped the backyard with palm trees, flowering plants, and a green wall for privacy. After the storm, only one bougainvillea bush survives. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
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Jacquelyn, center, and Timothy Velazquez share a pizza inside the small camper where they are living with their daughter Hannah, top, home from college and working for the summer, while they wait to be able repair their home, which was damaged when Hurricane Ian's storm surge rose to within inches of their ceiling, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Rebecca Blackwell/AP / AP
Then there’s battles with insurance companies and navigating how to obtain state and federal aid, which is running into the billions of dollars. Robert Burton and his partner Cindy Lewis, both 71 and from Ohio, whose mobile home was totaled by storm surge, spent months living with friends and family until finally a small apartment was provided through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. They can stay there until March 2024 while they look for a new home.
Their mobile home park next to the causeway to Sanibel is a ghost town, filled with flooded-out homes soon to be demolished, many of them with ruined furniture inside, clothes still in closets, art still on the walls. Most homes had at least three feet of water inside.
“No one has a home. That park will not be reopened as a residential community,” Lewis said. “So everybody lost.”
The state Office of Insurance Regulation estimated the total insured loss from Ian in Florida was almost $14 billion, with more than 143,000 claims still open without payment or claims paid but not fully settled as of March 9.
With so many people in limbo, places like the heavily damaged Beach Baptist Church in Fort Myers Beach provide a lifeline, with a food pantry, a hot lunch stand, showers and even laundry facilities for anyone to use. Pastor Shawn Critser said about 1,200 families per month are being served at the church through donated goods.
“We’re not emergency feeding now. We’re in disaster recovery mode,” Critser said. “We want to see this continue. We want to have a constant presence.”
In nearby Sanibel, the lingering damage is not quite as widespread although many businesses remain shuttered as they are repaired and storm debris is everywhere. Seven local retail stores have moved into a shopping center in mainland Fort Myers, hoping to continue to operate while awaiting insurance payouts, construction permits, or both before returning to the island.
They call themselves the “Sanibel Seven,” said Rebecca Binkowski, owner of MacIntosh Books and Paper that has been a Sanibel fixture since 1960. She said her store had no flood insurance and lost about $100,000 worth of books and furnishings in the storm.
“The fact of the matter is, we can get our businesses back up and running but without hotels to put people in, without our community moving back, it’s going to be hard to do business,” she said. “You hope this is still a strong community.”
Yet, the sense among many survivors is one of hope for the future, even if it looks very different.
Cellura, the chef living in his car, has a new job at another location of the Nauti Parrot restaurant on the mainland. Insurance only paid off the outstanding loan amount on his destroyed camper and he didn’t qualify for FEMA aid, leaving him with virtually nothing to start over and apartment rents rising fast.
But, after 22 years on the island, he’s not giving up.
“I believe that things will work out. I’m strong. I’m a survivor,” he said. “Every day I wake up, it’s another day to just continue on and try to make things better.”
