Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.
One Week After Irma, Floridians Pick Up The Pieces
Debris lines a street near the beach in Naples, Fla. the day after Irma made landfall.
(
Meredith Rizzo
/
NPR
)
It's been one week since Hurricane Irma hit Southwestern Florida. Residents in Collier County, where the storm made landfall after the Florida keys, are in the early stages of the recovery process still cleaning up debris, wading through floodwaters, struggling to get gas, and trying to get by without electricity. It will take months to fully assess the damage, and the rebuilding process could take years. Yet already they are looking ahead to the next steps. They are figuring out how to continue with their lives amidst the devastation.
Immokalee, Fla.
In the agricultural community of Immokalee, about 50 miles east of Naples, Olga Garza, shuffled through water surrounding her house. She's lived there for 37 years, and this is only the second time it's flooded. The first was when Hurricane Harvey hit. The entire property is covered in at least six inches of water.
Fernando Rivera helps out his wife's grandparents after their home flooded during the storm. Initially the water level started to fall, but Rivera says it has stopped receding.
(
Meredith Rizzo
/
NPR
)
Sponsored message
"It's not draining. It's just standing here," she says. "And you can smell it."
She said she's called the county and no one has responded.
Her granddaughter's husband, Fernando Rivera, helped wheel a grill out to cook dinner.
"We don't want the kids to get near [the water]," he says. "Especially after a hurricane, you don't know what's in it."
Ray Gonzalez says that although the aluminum roof of their produce warehouse was boarded up, they still sustained damage.
(
Meredith Rizzo
/
NPR
)
Near the Immokalee Farmer's Market, Ray Gonzalez looks up at the damaged aluminum roof of the produce stall in which he's standing. He says they had boarded up the roof prior to the storm but it wasn't enough.
Other residents are waiting for electricity to come back on so they can cook, like Sixta Vidaurri and her granddaughter Amree Vidaurri.
Sponsored message
Sixta Vidaurri and her granddaughter Amree Vidaurri stand outside their home. They couldn't cook without power and many of the grocery stores in town were still shuttered, two days after the storm.
(
Meredith Rizzo
/
NPR
)
Standing outside his home, Alfonso Garza gestures to the debris in his yard. He says he isn't physically capable of moving it, and hopes someone will come to clear it.
Alfonso Garza (no relationship to Olga Garza), 70, stayed in a shelter during the storm. He returned to flooding in his house and debris which he couldn't clean up.
(
Meredith RIzzo
/
NPR
)
Ft Myers, Fla.
On Wednesday, a seasonally warm day, Shelia Lunsford, who moved to Florida three years ago from Alabama, was raking up debris in the heat at the Woodsmoke Camping Resort in Fort Myers. The RV and mobile home park had dodged the worst of the damage, but behind her an uprooted tree sat on top of a neighbor's parked car.
Shelia Lunsford is a year-round resident at Woodsmoke Camping Resort. She says many residents are snowbirds who want to know what happened to their property during the storm.
(
Meredith Rizzo
/
NPR
)
"We're doing the best we can to get cleaned up," she said.
Sponsored message
Many of the park's snowbirds won't return to Florida until at least October. So Lunsford has been photographing properties to send to absent neighbors.
"They're freaking out," she said. "It's helping them tremendously to see that there's damage or no damage."
Naples, Fla.
Naples resident Matthew Delagado, 26, says they were lucky the storm surge wasn't higher, but there's still a lot of cleanup to do. He walked down to Naples beach with friends to check on their families' homes.
(
Meredith Rizzo
/
NPR
)
In Naples, broken tree limbs lined the streets of upscale beach neighborhoods. The day after the storm, Matthew Delgado, 26, who grew up in Naples, walked down with two friends who were checking on family homes. He said he planned to spend all week cleaning up the neighborhood.
"Now the real work begins."
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. 9(MDA1OTI3MjQ5MDEyODUwMTE2MzM1YzNmZA004))
Sponsored message
People take photos on the beach in Naples the day after Irma hit.
(
Meredith Rizzo
/
NPR
)
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.
If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
