Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson described the devastation wrought by Hurricane Ian. There are big boats on the ground and pieces of the river dock are strewn about.
“Just look at the boats. These are some large boats. And they’ve been thrown around like they were toys,” he said, standing among the wreckage.
The chunks of dock ripped by the storm surge and floated onto the ground “could weigh as much as a ton,” he added. “They were thrown around like they were nothing.”
The destruction is horrific, he said, but it’s “good for people to see this to understand the power of a storm. So when future storms are approaching … they take our advisory seriously.”
The city has no reported fatalities, and authorities, who have rescued more than 200 people, confident that they have gotten everybody, Anderson told CNN. Now, the biggest need in the city is for electricity and water.
Resident can expect power back bit by bit each day, he said, adding that 80% of the city is still without power, even though crews are already working on restoration.
At this time though, the mayor said residents should stay home.
“Until we can get the roads cleared, the power lines secured, I would really love for people to stay home. It’s not safe out there. There are trees still ready to fall. A lot of times, there’s more deaths after the hurricane, from trees falling … people hitting power lines.”
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