On Monday morning the Town of Fort Myers Beach Town Council held an emergency meeting to declare a state of emergency. The declaration gives Town Manager Andy Hyatt the tools he needs to use quickly to get Fort Myers Beach cleaned up and back on the road to recovering from Hurricane Ian two years ago.
On Sunday Fort Myers Beach caught the outer band of Hurricane Debby which eventually made landfall in the Big Bend are of the state. While the storm was not a major hurricane event for us it caused enough rain that, combined with high tide, turned Old San Carlos and Times Square into a river and lead to flooding on many streets along the island.
The reported storm surge was two to three feet with several inches of rainfall. When the high tide hit at about 1PM Eastern on Sunday, there was just too much water. The hardest hit area was from Bayside Park to Times Square where the water began to overflow from the Bay quickly filling the town’s system an overflowing out onto Old San Carlos where the water eventually connected with the storm surge from the beach. Several vehicles had to be abandoned by their owners as the water was too high making it unsafe to drive.
Mayor Dan Allers, who had just completed his Sunday show on Beach Talk Radio, was stranded at Wahoo Willies until 5PM due to the flooded roads near the restaurant. It became his make-shift command center as he fielded calls from state and federal representatives looking to help and as he communicated with Town Manager Andy Hyatt about how the beach was dealing with the storm.
There were no reported injuries from the storm and damage to businesses and homes was minimal. It’s now about cleaning up. Town staff was in Times Square immediately where a lot of the sand from the beach was deposited.
A bus load of volunteers from FGCU also showed up to Snug Harbor Monday morning to help with the cleanup.
Florida Department of Transportation says the base of the bridge road project will not be delayed due to the storm. Town Manager Andy Hyatt said their will be a slight delay with the Beach Renourishment project as they reset their equipment but just how long is unknown at this time. Equipment did have to be removed from the beach for safety reasons. Lee County has closed Lynn Hall Memorial Park until the sand and debris is cleaned up.
The Town Council was originally scheduled to hold its regular meeting Monday. That has been pushed back to Wednesday at 9AM, which will be followed by the Council’s Management & Planning meeting.
Wow. Almost 2 years later they finally declare a state of emergency. Hmmm so maybe focus on these 4 things
1- rapidly repair/ replace. the storm drain pipes that were displaced and or crushed in Ian and flush out any that are on the off chance still intact.
2 – dredge the canals and the bay due to all the debris that was deposited in them in Ian ( the state is supposed to pay for that ) if you don’t understand this concept – all the homes that were totally wiped off their foundations including contents and vehicles etc have made it where all the canals are approximately 2-4+ feet higher than they were pre Ian as the bay the canals go to. Think of a 8 ounce cup that has a few rocks on the bottom and it’s filled with 3/4 with water – what happens when you add more rocks to that glass ??? It overflows. Simple analogy.
3- learn the proper way and concept of building a berm. You build it up with rock and put sand over that and plant greenery that is native to the area on top of it. Anyone that has ever been to the panhandle of Florida has seen this. Yes you have use a crosswalk to walk over to the beach . State fines those that destroy sand dunes and have signage to stay off sand dunes. If you don’t like that then perhaps sea walls are called for. Perhaps a combination of both.
4 – renourish the beaches when it’s not hurricane season . The entire island and town of FMB needs it. Not just the north end.
LOL The state of emergency was declared for Tropical Storm Debby. (A state of emergency was declared nearly two years ago for Ian, and also for Idalia.
Didn’t read beyond your first sentence since you’re obviously uninformed.
Did any of the shops get flooded?
Did the portable food trailers have to be removed?
Thank you to the FGU in volunterring to helping out with the clean up…
Appreciate your help!!!