Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian arrived in Southwest Florida four years ago today. Whether you experienced true devastation or were just seriously inconvenienced, Ian left a deep mark on everyone who experienced it. In the months after Ian the folks at the Gulf Coast Writers Association embarked on a project to collect some of them for a book that could capture the moment from different perspectives and that culminated in the 2023 book Storm Stories – Hurricane Ian: Stories of Survival, Heroism, and Humanity. We talk with Christie Zarria, who co-edited the book, and award-winning author Robert N. Macomber, who lost his St. James home and wrote the book's forward.

For the first time since before Hurricane Ian in 2022, powerboat racing competition ROAR Offshore is returning to Fort Myers Beach. It will take place at Margaritaville Beach Resort from Sept. 11 to Sept. 13. Town Council members approved requests to waive the island's noise ordinance and use town property on Monday.

Hurricane Ian caused extensive damage to the wildlife refuge when it struck Sanibel Island on September 28, 2022. Repairs are just now wrapping up four years later.

A public workshop updating plans for the permanent replacement of the Sanibel Fishing Pier at Lighthouse Beach Park will be at 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 15, at MacKenzie Hall in the Sanibel City Hall.

The day before Hurricane Ian, there were well over 150 businesses on Sanibel-Captiva Island. Not one was open the day after the storm. But island vibe helps several Sanibel shops, stores and restaurants weather string of hurricanes and slow summer sales.

For decades the answer to inexpensive, safe housing for older retired Floridians was found in mobile home communities. Yet with Florida’s growth and an increasing and longer-living senior population, for many, that once sure answer is wrong.

Lee County celebrated the new Big Carlos Pass Bridge and the Big Carlos Bridge Artificial Reef Tuesday morning with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The Lee Board of County Commissioners on June 16 approved the draft RESTORE Act Direct Component Multiyear Implementation Plan (MIP) and authorized a 45-day public comment period as required by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Intermittent closures of portions of the Lighthouse Beach Park Fishing Pier parking lot will be made over the next several weeks as Hurricane Ian recovery improvements are completed.

The funding from FEMA is meant to support more than 50 recovery and hazard mitigation projects in Florida communities affected by Hurricanes Helene, Milton and other past disasters.