Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Additional support provided by Howard K. and Nancy B. Cohen The Jack Forté Foundation and the following: [♪ music ♪] (Female Narrator) In 2022, Hurricane Ian forever changed Southwest Florida.

From the coast, to the heart.

As residents tried to rise from the wreckage, the storms kept coming.

It was crazy.

Years ago, they used to project that Florida would be underwater You know, Floridas going to be underwater.

And you would be like, man, yall are crazy.

You know what I'm saying?

But now these hurricanes are so big, it's at the bottom of the state, but it's still hitting the top of the state.

It's crazy.

(Narrator) Tyrone Morgan's family has lived in River Park East for generations.

The working-class neighborhood sits amid the wealth of the small Gulf side city of Naples.

(Tyrone) At about two feet high.

(Narrator) Storm surge from Hurricane Ian breached the home Tyrone shared with his mother.

Neighbors and friends rallied to restore the historic community.

(Tyrone) This is what brotherhood looks like, man.

Boys come through for you.

I appreciate everybody in the community.

You see it.

This is what brotherhood looks like, man.

(Narrator) People rebuilt their lives, replaced their belongings.

But a succession of storms after Ian made Tyrone question staying.

Especially in 2024, as yet another monster hurricane approached.

I was the one who always told my mom, like I tried to reassure her man, like, we ain't going nowhere, we're not going nowhere.

We're gonna be here forever, and I'm starting to get to the point to where, like it's starting to get old now, you know what I'm saying?

(Narrator) How do individuals confront a brutal new reality after surviving the worst hurricane of their lives?

(Woman) That's my roof gone.

Everythings ruined.

(Narrator) And how does a region continually rebuild under the threats of stronger storms and surge?

(Man) Unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

There's debris everywhere.

(Narrator) Can its history and character remain intact?

We don't want to lose our sense of community.

We don't want to lose our, our collective story.

So how can we keep our friends and neighbors here in a way that makes sense for them, that keeps them safe and keeps them with a sustainable lifestyle?

There's still too many people that have tarps on their roofs that haven't totally repaired everything.

There are still too many people that their hearts hurt.

Our community depends on one another.

Were great in that sense.

But enough is enough.

There's a lot that needs to be done.

So, now's the time to do it.

[♪ music ♪] Welcome back, everyone.

A lot has happened overnight and early this morning, and unfortunately, none of it is good news.

As you can see, the satellite imagery behind me here of a well-developed, powerful hurricane, Category 4 hurricane approaching and almost on shore of the southwest coast of Florida.

(Narrator) In September 2022, Hurricane Ian developed as a threat to Southwest Florida.

Earlier predictions targeted landfall closer to Tampa Bay, but the track shifted south.

Many Gulf Coast residents chose not to evacuate.

They worried about finding hotels to accept their pets, (Man) Trying to get away from the hurricane.

(Narrator) getting stuck on the interstate, and defending their homes and businesses from post-storm looters.

(Woman) Hi.

Are you okay?

(Narrator) Some felt safe staying because they had survived other storms.

And in Lee County, many felt it was too late to leave.

Evacuations were ordered the day before landfall.

But the storm, has steadily, for the last 12 hours, or so, been inching its way to the east and we now find, ourselves in a position of uh, great peril in Lee County.

(Narrator) The storm surge predictions were hard to fathom.

These are big numbers.

I haven't seen numbers like this many times in my career.

12 to 18 feet in and around the Charlotte Harbor area.

People on the barrier islands who decide not to go, they, they do so at their own peril.

We The best thing they can do is leave.

We cannot by law, force people off the islands, but we strongly recommend that they go.

(Narrator) Ian rapidly intensified.

Rain and wind thrashed Southwest Florida as the storm churned closer to shore.

First responders were called off the roads.

It was too dangerous to drive.

The surge began to rise, swift and strong.

Now we have a truck issue and the guys are pushing the truck out of the bay.

(Narrator) At 3:05 in the afternoon of September 28th, 2022, Hurricane Ian made landfall as nearly a Category 5 on the barrier island of Cayo Costa.

The massive, slow-moving storm pummeled Southwest Florida for a full, painful day.

(Male announcer) It is solid rain, and I mean heavy rain and high winds.

(Female announcer) Photos and video on Twitter show cars underwater in the streets and sea water whitecaps lashing at second-floor windows of homes.

The storm surge swamped Sanibel Island and coastal communities like Fort Myers Beach and Naples.

Many more areas are under flash flood warnings, as Ian's predicted 10 to 15 inches of rain fall on waterlogged-ground and overflow the rivers.

(Automated male voice) Hazard.

Heavy rain due to Hurricane Ian is producing flash flooding.

This is a particularly dangerous situation.

Seek higher ground now.

911 calls stacked up.

[Phone ringing] (Narrator) Dispatchers tried to calm thousands of callers, urging them to ascend to the highest points in their homes.

In the absence of first responders, neighbors rescued neighbors.

One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the U.S., Ian took several hours to cross Florida.

As night fell, the storm was not done wreaking havoc.

(Deputy) Sheriffs office!

(Narrator) A bleak picture emerged.

I am, um, sad to tell you, that while we don't know the full extent of the damage to Lee County right now, we are beginning to get a sense that, our community has been, in some respects, decimated.

Hurricane Ian has moved on tonight after stamping an indelible mark of death and destruction across Florida.

It will be one of the storms, people always remember, ah, when they think about, ah, Southwest Florida.

[Sirens] (Narrator) Hurricane Ian seared trauma into residents memories.

This was the [bleeped words] damnedest hurricane that hit here in my time and anybody else's time that's around and knows anything about it.

It was wicked.

The wind speed was definitely at tornado, um, speed winds for a straight 5 or 6 hours.

But the water came with a vengeance.

It came to drown everything.

The water started coming up through the floor and through the doors.

It looked like the color had been sucked out of the world.

It was just piles of mud and debris, and nothing was where we left it.

It's like you're stuck in one place and just thinking like, when is this going to be over?

I feel like I'm in a dystopian movie.

(Narrator) The storm annihilated parts of Southwest Florida, particularly coastal Lee County, Ian also devastated areas in nearby Collier, Charlotte, DeSoto, and Sarasota counties.

[Helicopter] In the aftermath, first responders searched for survivors.

Rescue efforts are ongoing as we speak.

I know that we've rescued over 600 people, over 600 people.

[Helicopter] (Narrator) Teams eventually rescued, thousands of people, shuttling them to safety by helicopters and boats since the storm destroyed key roads and bridges, including the only land access to Sanibel Island and Matlacha, and the rest of Pine Island.

Without infrastructure, homes and power, people found refuge at shelters.

Thank you so much.

(Narrator) Those who sheltered at home shared dramatic stories.

(Narrator) Kaye DeHays and her husband experienced Ian from their home on stilts on San Carlos Island, a small sister island to Fort Myers Beach.

About 8000 people live on the islands that were ground zero for Ian's storm surge.

I had always kind of wanted to see, I don't know, let's just stay and have the excitement.

So we stayed, and by the time we realized that we might not have, should have stayed, it was too late to leave.

We saw floating houses going by and everything floating by.

We realized that we probably should have gone on.

[door closes] This too shall pass.

[wind and waves] Oh my gosh.

Oh good, God bless America, are you kidding?

Keep going, keep going, keep going, just keep going.

[bleeped word] (Man) Missed that post.

[bleeped word] (Kaye) Except for the tree thats holding it.

Ok, thats good.

Good, go, go, go, go, go, go.

We shouldnt have stayed.

(Narrator) After the storm, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration visited.

NOAA, came out with all their equipment, and right before they were leaving, I said, so how high did it get?

And he said, 18 feet.

And that's from NOAA.

This is Irma.

It was in 2017.

It was low.

We barely got any from that.

This is Idalia.

Gabrielle was in 2001.

Charley was in 2004.

Donna was in 1960.

And Ian is 5 feet up.

[chuckling] (Narrator) Ian arrived at high tide, prime time for flooding.

A camera set up by storm chasers captured the rising water on Fort Myers Beach, prying a home from its foundation.

The surge hurled yachts and mammoth fishing boats like toys.

On San Carlos Island, the water shoved most of the historic shrimping fleet ashore with captains and crew aboard.

I don't want to witness the next.

Never again.

Oh, we're trying.

That's all we know how to do.

And we're hanging on by the skin of our teeth.

But this right here may take the shrimp fleet out of Fort Myers.

(Narrator) Jackie Dean and her son, Tyrone Morgan, were in her River Park East home when the surge rose in Naples, south of where Ian made landfall.

Tyrone recalled the water flooding the historically black, low lying neighborhood in less than an hour.

So the water came in that fast.

Yeah, from all four east, west, north, and south from all areas.

I saw when the water started breaching the seawall.

I saw when the water hit the neighbor's house, and then I saw when the water got to our backyard.

And then I did tell my mom, hey, I think we need to pack a bag and get ready to go.

(Narrator) When water reached the porch of the single-story home, Tyrone and Jackie escaped outside.

And it was me and another young lady that actually, like, held on to her as we were like walking through it, because, she is very short.

Yeah.

We just, we just held on to her pretty close.

Almost like floaties on your arms.

Ah, when the water came in, you could see the sewage coming up.

So you don't know, honestly, whats in the water.

It could be snakes, alligators, ah, sharks.

So that was, that was a concern.

We got to the 7-Eleven, uh, because it was more elevated.

And I would say it was probably about at least 20, 30 people, also up there.

The vehicle that picked us up.

It didn't have no top.

And we're all getting wet.

And were all like leaning together, trying to keep each other warm.

It had no cover on it.

The vehicle that that rescued us, technically, yeah, it just took us to the Coastland Mall, to the parking garage and dumped us off there.

And people was, you know, sittin out there just, just waiting.

(Narrator) The fire chief later said they only had time to remove people from imminent danger.

There were others to save.

Meanwhile, 50-some miles north in North Fort Myers, Brian Boddie and his service dog were waiting for a rescue that never arrived.

This is Mr. Benny, right here, and he just turned 11.

And this is little Mini, and she just turned 8.

And they're both rescues.

(Narrator) Brian and his dogs lived in a manufactured home, more than a dozen miles from the coast.

Ian's winds lifted, then dropped his home.

When his entertainment center started to fall, Brian rushed to save Mini.

The wall unit fell over and hit my coffee table, broke the glass, and drove the glass into my ankle.

It broke my ankle, went right through the bones and all, and actually pinned me against the floor.

(Narrator) Without a working cell phone or service, he waited for hours, which turned to days.

Benny shared his kibble.

So I finally started making believe I was eating it, and I was just stuffing it down the front of my shirt.

And then he was happy because he figured he was keeping daddy alive.

I knew that God was gonna get me through there.

But after the third day, I said to myself, you know, I think he's expecting me to do something of my own to get out of here, because nobody's coming.

(Narrator) He remembered the movie 127 hours, about a climber who cut off his own arm to free himself from a boulder.

So I said, well, you know, if he can do it.

I can do it.

So I started taking my leg and just moving it back and forth against the glass, and eventually got enough of my foot cut off so that I was able to slip it out from underneath the furniture.

(Narrator) He crawled to his car.

A friend saw him and his dogs on the road, and called an ambulance.

At the hospital, much of Brian's leg was amputated in several surgeries.

During rehabilitation, he found the unexpected.

I looked down across the room, maybe about 20 feet, and I saw Mini.

I stooped down to pet the dog and then I looked up at Brian and I was like, Oh, that's a really nice face.

So Like I tease everybody, I say, I lost my leg in the hurricane and I got a wife.

And it really wasn't a bad trade.

(Narrator) His was ultimately a happy outcome.

Others fared worse.

So much of the narrative coming out of that storm was either the forecast cone or the forecast changed or the evacuation timing.

And, you know, those are, those are all factors, obviously, but the part that everyone missed is, this storm was powerful and hit a community that is socially vulnerable.

And it's a dense population of socially vulnerable communities.

(Narrator) Southwest Florida has a large population of retirees.

Older people are more at risk in natural disasters.

Residents like Mitch Pacyna.

He decided to stay on Fort Myers Beach for Ian and chronicled his experience on social media.

They told us a mandatory evacuation on the beach but we're going to ride this one out.

[wind] Probably made a very bad decision to stay.

16 years.

Never seen a river on our street.

On my god.

Wrong decision.

This aint letting up yet.

If it gets a little higher, may have to go on the roof.

(Narrator) Soon after came what would be his final post.

His daughter said he jumped into the rushing water as his house collapsed.

Mitch Pacyna was 74.

A Chicago man at heart, a fan of the Cubs and the Bears and hot dogs with Miller Lite.

On Fort Myers Beach, he earned the nickname of mayor and worked as a greeter at the library.

Hurricane Ian was responsible for more than 150 deaths.

Most victims were over the age of 60, many with chronic health conditions.

The storm stoked widespread grief.

Along with family and friends, residents lost homes, cars, jobs, history, heritage, the Southwest Florida they knew.

People from around the country and world saw their favorite vacation spots marked by catastrophe.

Everglades City.

Naples.

Bonita Beach.

Fort Myers Beach.

Sanibel Island.

Pine Island.

Counties north of Ian's landfall, like Charlotte County, also sustained destruction.

This is what was the living room, the kitchen behind it.

(Narrator) Charlotte County has one of the oldest populations in the nation.

Thousands of residents live in trailers.

Their affordable patch of paradise.

[splashing] Because of that affordability, we have, roughly around 15,000 manufactured homes here in Charlotte County.

Manufactured homes, you know, regardless of what standard regardless of what standard they're built to, just aren't as strong as those site-built homes.

And because of that, that high number of manufactured homes, you know, we saw a high level of damage from wind.

I just had this feeling of dread of what we would find when we went to work.

And we did.

It was really that bad.

The senior community that was completely destroyed and, and them trying to transport senior citizens to the the mass shelter in a gymnasium we had, like, um, an 85-year-old veteran with one leg in a wheelchair coming into this huge, loud auditorium and trying to sleep on a cot and, and just being so confused.

And so really, the lesson the lesson is, you know, to have housing, and facilities that can handle Florida weather.

If I were king for the day, I would want site-bilt homes site-built homes for anybody.

It's just safer for those, those wind events.

But also, you know, less development right next to the water, which would be helpful as well.

(Narrator) North of Charlotte is rural DeSoto County, home to the historic town of Arcadia along the Peace River.

There, water, more than wind was the problem.

We anticipated some flooding.

Normally, during the hurricane season, the rainy season, we do ah, have some areas that will flood.

We did not anticipate the record numbers that we got.

(Narrator) First, Arcadia got slammed by Ian's torrential rain and wind Then within a few days, the Peace River overflowed and shattered a century-old record.

We live on the other side of the river, so we came into town to check on the sites.

All the roads were washed out.

You couldn't cross.

They started bringing in airboats and stuff to get in and out, to bring us in supplies.

Because there was no gas, there was no water, there was no food coming in.

(Narrator) Severe flooding impacted North Port and Venice residents in Sarasota County.

[rippling water] This time, the Myakka River overflowed and also hit a record high.

(Female announcer) Hundreds of people remain trapped by floodwaters in the city of North Port in southern Sarasota County.

(Man) Just very emotionally draining to see what you have possibly go down the tubes.

(Female announcer) And anxiety only increased with news of the flooding and closure of I-75 over the weekend.

(Narrator) The closure of a major transportation corridor complicated recovery.

The record flooding left residents wondering how to adapt.

Everything that we had done to accommodate the river, um, it's just a, a record high.

So we've gone underwater.

(Narrator) In so many ways, Hurricane Ian was like no other storm in Southwest Florida's history, a fact the chief meteorologist for the local CBS affiliate foresaw.

I'll never forget it.

That morning, 7 a.m., Wednesday, when we got the update from the National Hurricane Center, that it jumped from like a 130 to a 155, almost a Category 5.

I knew what was going to happen.

It was going to change our landscape.

I knew that people who did not evacuate, their lives would be threatened.

It was a tough morning.

It was a tough morning, of course, a lots going through my head.

Keeping the community safe.

A lot of people don't know this, but my wife was pregnant during Ian.

I found out actually when we were in the cone.

She told me at about 6 a.m. she, ah, you know, she pushes me over and says, hey, Matt, I know you got a lot going on.

I'm pregnant.

And so I'm thinking about my future growing family as well.

(70s or tomorrow morning.)

Ian was our worst-case scenario storm.

It was the deadliest, it was the costliest, greatest rainfall, and greatest storm surge that Southwest Florida has ever had.

And it's no exaggeration or hyperbole to say that this was our worst natural disaster that our area has ever seen.

(Narrator) Before Ian, it had been nearly two decades since Southwest Florida was struck by a Category 4.

That, was the much smaller and faster-moving Hurricane Charley.

Most Southwest Florida residents had not experienced storm surge of Ian's magnitude in their lifetimes.

Ian has taught us that storm surge is real and it's significant.

It's scary and it's deadly.

And, so when you have a surge that's projected, whether or not it's 5 to 10 feet or to 12 feet, it is very disruptive and it is frightening when you see that water come in and there's absolutely nothing you can do about it.

(Narrator) WINK learned that lesson too.

So WINK goes back all the way to the 1950s and when they decided on this location, they thought, oh, beautiful along the Caloosahatchee.

Respectfully, I don't think that they factored in the storm surge component.

I think that they thought that it was going to behave like other storms.

And this is not just a WINK thing, this is from a lot of locals.

They they had never seen a storm to Ian's caliber.

Despite my warning and my forecast.

And they wanted to take a chance and we flooded as a result.

So that's one of the big things that I always like to tell our viewers is that please don't compare storm experiences from the past to help you prepare for storms in the future.

(Narrator) But without experiencing storm surge, it can be hard to grasp its immense power.

(Female voice) Storm surge is often the deadliest threat from a hurricane.

A mere six inches of fast-moving water can knock over an adult.

And your ability to walk or become mobile in that situation is kind of next to none.

And there's a misconception that surge only impacts the coast.

Areas like Fort Myers, Cape Coral, they can go very far upriver.

So those communities living along those rivers connected to the ocean can experience a lot of flooding, too.

Essentially, when the surge comes in, you're reversing that river flow.

(Narrator) The slope of the Gulfs seafloor near the coastline makes the region susceptible to surge.

It is a very gentle slope, and it's very shallow.

The best visual I can give you is, try to push something heavy with wheels up a hill.

It's easier to do it with a gentle slope, and that's what Mother Nature is doing with water and with storm surge, it's easier to pile it up in the Gulf.

What Ian did with its landfall is it piled up the water in a part of our coastline that curves inland and allows for additional water to pile up.

(Narrator) After the water receded, recovery began.

Disaster relief arrived.

Workers cleared roads and restored power.

Bridges underwent emergency repairs.

Volunteers and survivors mocked and gutted homes and businesses.

They placed the soggy contents of their lives at the curb.

And Southwest Florida began the hard work of rebuilding.

Rebuilding after Hurricane Ian was fraught with heartache, stress, and questions.

A big one being how would Southwest Florida change?

On Fort Myers Beach, where Ian wiped out large swaths of the town, residents worried about the charm and the nature disappearing.

Nobody wants to stop progress.

But there is an increasing awareness that the island is in danger of becoming a polluted paradise.

(Narrator) There was also uncertainty about how long rebuilding would take to complete.

What I tell people is I believe this will be a generation to rebuild.

So 18 years.

(Narrator) There were bright spots.

In the south Fort Myers neighborhood of Harlem Heights, volunteers came to help, and stayed.

A couple from Minnesota with the faith-based Adventures in Missions arrived with their four kids and dog, about a month after Ian.

We pulled into the driveway about 8:30 at night.

It was just getting dark and there was no power here yet, and we were in our camper and it was 90-some degrees and 100% humidity.

And we were just laying there thinking, oh God, what did you get us into?

(Narrator) The next morning they began meeting residents to see how they could help.

It was just beautiful how they were all intertwined in this little 10-block radius of Harlem Heights.

Its been a a lot of, ah, families that never left.

Hey, hey, Jimmy.

How you doing, man?

And most of the other people are family by friends.

(Narrator) Hurricane Ian flooded dozens of homes in Harlem Heights.

The water came with a vengeance.

It came to drown everything.

And my neighbors got paranoid, and they ran across the street.

And I brought them inside the house and said, pick a high spot and lets hope for the best.

I mean, the water was this deep, easily this deep.

People came here because it was higher.

People actually had to break out of their windows to get out of their homes.

Some that were flooded, and they couldn't open their doors and some swam to safety over at the soccer field nearby.

But some came to the front door and, they slept here.

(Narrator) Like River Park East, Harlem Heights also has chronic flooding problems and was a historically Black neighborhood.

The community once largely housed farm workers, but as Florida grew, new development gobbled up farm fields.

As building codes improved, nearby homes and roads were built up higher, which came at a cost for the families in Harlem Heights.

They've been putting us in a cereal bowl for years.

But the higher they go, the worse off we are, so.

I don't know what the answer is.

(Narrator) After Ian, residents waited days for the water to go down.

The Heights Foundation, a grassroots organization, became a de facto disaster relief center.

Residents like Juan Vazquez began working on their homes as volunteers mobilized to rebuild.

We put them to work and they got their hands dirty side by side with us and we got the stuff out.

I mean, piles and piles and piles and hundreds and hundreds of tons of debris from everybody's hopes and dreams and wishes and everything they had was out of the curb.

All ready to get picked up by the clam truck.

So what can you do?

Start over.

So we started over again.

(Narrator) Juan joined the rebuilding effort, training young volunteers.

They were learning a lot of different ways of, ah, making their life a little better, because they know they made our lives a little bit better.

(Boy) Excuse me.

(Narrator) And, in 2024, nearly two years after Ian, the rebuilding mission was complete.

Our end goal was to see every house that partnered with us, which was the 176, to completion, and we did that.

(Narrator) They said goodbye with an ice cream social.

(Chris) A lots emotions, happy and sad.

(Sarah) Yeah.

Bittersweet for sure.

We are at peace knowing that we came and accomplished what we were called to do.

And a piece of our heart will always be in Harlem.

(Female) Where are you now?

(Group) Harlem Heights!

Hi Mom!

(Narrator) Across Southwest Florida, there were other moments to celebrate.

Fort Myers Beach replaced its signature clock.

Iconic structures like the Sanibel Island Lighthouse were restored.

There were ribbon cuttings.

Grand reopenings.

And despite the devastating blow to the tourism industry, some businesses bounced back.

Yucatan Waterfront Bar and Grill in Matlacha served as a disaster relief hub after Ian.

There was a tremendous amount of cleanup.

I mean, our floating docks elsewhere across the street.

One of them floated through our garage doors into the kitchen.

The inside was covered in mud.

It was extremely challenging, but we're finally here.

I'm proud of the way this turned out.

(Narrator) Fort Myers Beach residents celebrated one of the first complete rebuilds to replace a cottage pulverized by surge.

(Woman) 1, 2, 3, [crowd cheers] Basically, there was nothing left of it.

I mean, there was a couple bricks over in the corner, blocks in the corner.

I mean, it was just a... (Debi) A slab.

There was a slab left, nothing inside at all.

(Tim) And seven houses on this side of the road and seven houses on that side of the road (Debi) Completely gone.

(Tim) Totally gone.

(Narrator) Their new home was stronger and taller, 16 feet above sea level.

(Tim) It's different, (Debi) it's different.

(Tim) Weve got some great views now.

We never used to be able to see the ocean.

(Narrator) The couple credited good insurance payouts and the ability to sell other property for covering the cost of construction within two years of Ian.

You see people who are struggling to build and that kind of makes you feel bad because, you know, we were fortunate.

The ones that did not have insurance are out of money to rebuild their own homes.

We still have people living in tents.

We still have minor dependents, disabled human beings, living in campers on their properties.

We just found out the other day that one of our clients has not had running water in his house since the storm.

(Narrator) Despite the help that arrived for River Park in Naples, the worries piled up for Jackie Dean.

And I'm like, what, what am I going to do?

I don't have no insurance.

And then I felt bad because I had neighbors and some of them was talking about the insurance they had, and I had to admit I had none.

So I was embarrassed.

And yet it was, it stressed me out because I felt like, you know, forgive me if I get a little emotional, but I felt like my mom worked so hard for this house and I'm about to lose it.

(Narrator) The stress led to a hospital stay.

They said it was an aneurysm of the brain.

And they, cause, they had my family come in because they didn't know, you know, what was going to happen.

But, ah, fortunately, Im, I'm still here, by the grace of God.

The building up of someone's life has been much more time- consuming and cumbersome.

It just took much longer than what anyone thought it would, ah, and it's much more widespread.

So I think getting people to a place where they can say, I need, I do need help.

(Narrator) The unfairness of the storm and the recovery also took a toll.

So many adults and understandably so, so upset, so mad, so frustrated, saying this wasn't fair.

I didn't ask for this, now I have it.

You know, it's just unfair that the Earth did this, right?

But nothing is easy anymore.

My sleep has been horrible for since this happened.

I wake up 2 or 3 in the morning and my mind is racing on what I need to do, what paperwork I need to to address.

(Narrator) Christopher Moore is a battalion chief for the fire department of Cape Coral.

The sprawling Lee County community, with 400 miles of canals, was engulfed by Ians surge.

(Narrator) Chief Moore worked during the storm.

After several hours, he checked on his own home.

(Christopher) Alright, coming back into our neighborhood.

Not good.

Two feet of water in the entire house.

Ah, you realize you can't do anything at the moment.

Um.

There's still calls coming left and right and I literally, yes, ma'am.

Just went right back, ah, went back to work.

I did not get back to the house, ah, till eight, eight days later Ah, it was just one big, humid mud pile.

Fellow firefighters, ah, contacted me with the offer to help, and, ah, that was a lot.

[chuckles] So... [clears throat] (Narrator) He was displaced for years.

I've stayed in friends campers.

I've stayed on friends boats.

I somewhat become a nomad.

I just I live out of a backpack.

I have a few pair of clothes, and, um, that's how I, I survive.

This is my insurance, legal paperwork.

In Florida, the insurance situation is you have two policies.

You have a homeowner's, which would cover wind damage or fire damage, and then you have a flood component.

Both agencies point their finger at each other.

Well, that damage is from flood.

Well no that damage is from wind and it's just back and forth.

I just now did receive additional payment from my insurance company.

I've chose not to continue fighting.

I'm ready to move on with life, so I am going to start the rebuild process now.

(Narrator) The Federal Emergency Management Agency also provoked angst, the red tape, how hard it was to get help.

The obstacles felt endless.

Meanwhile, property vultures circled hard-hit neighborhoods.

Even the second day after the hurricane, I had people approaching me and people pull up, wanting to know, are you ready to sell your home?

I mean, it was it was kind of hurtful.

Right after the storm.

No.

I'm not.

Not all the time, to be honest.

We're on the last waterfront, Gordon River, so I know it's not the homes.

They want to tear them down and put condominiums over here.

That's the reason.

But to us over here, it means a lot more than that.

(Narrator) In the early 1960s, building began for River Park East, an alternative to substandard housing for black workers in segregated Naples.

Black residents could finally purchase their own homes.

Oh, this house it means the world to me.

It was my moms.

As you can see the photo of my mom over there, I'm so proud of her.

She was the only single parent to have a home over here.

My mom actually worked three jobs.

She got diagnosed with cancer.

She was living alone and I moved back in as her caretaker.

And I've been here ever since ‘til she passed.

(Narrator) In Jackie Dean's lifetime, Naples transformed from a quaint beach town to a mecca for the wealthy.

Luxury development has inched closer to River Park.

So it's very valuable land, and very attractive for developers.

So many developers are in and around the community nowadays that it's, it's just it's changing in front of your eyes.

Some people have sold their property and moved on.

(Narrator) Jackie was not ready to give up on her home.

I want to be able if, something happens to me, pass it down to my kids.

I want it to stay in the family because of my mother.

Theyre much older now.

It will always be Daisy's home to me.

(Narrator) Yet her son Tyrone worried about her facing another big storm.

And you know, she suffered an aneurysm after the hurricane two years ago and just like were trying to preserve those homes over there, I'm trying to preserve my mom's life as much as I can so (Narrator) If Jackie was going to stay in River Park East, they both knew she would have to do something differently.

In spring 2024, forecasters released their outlooks for the upcoming hurricane season.

The news was grim.

It's official the most aggressive hurricane forecast ever issued by federal forecasters is here.

NOAA is predicting an above-average 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.

Hurricane experts in Colorado, they are calling for their highest numbers that they've ever called for since they've been doing this in 1995.

(Narrator) Southwest Florida wasn't ready for more storms.

The two-year-old scars from Ian were still fresh.

Whenever there's a super high tide, it'll pull things out of the mangroves and then you'll see stuff floating by and we just pick it up, and then we take it out to the garbage.

Just all kinds of stuff floats by.

(Narrator) Ian accelerated the transformation of her community, San Carlos Island.

Her friend, Brett Green, grew up on the island, when it was home to many fishing families.

It's in my blood, and I told Miss Wadlin in the first grade.

You know when everybody stands up and says, Hey, what are you going to be when you grow up?

Said, well, I'm going to be a fisherman, just like my father.

And that's what I did.

(Narrator) Like his father and his brother, he was also a shrimper.

But Ian paralyzed the local shrimping fleet, known for its legendary pink shrimp.

An important part of the island's culture since the mid-century.

Most of the boats were put back in the water in a massive recovery operation.

However, with one company destroyed, gas prices high and shrimp prices low, the fleet was a fraction of its former self.

It's gone.

So what do you do after that?

So that's what I'm doing.

I'm doing the after that.

But you can't stop change.

You cannot stop progress.

But it's still heartbreaking to see everything, everything is different.

Except for that little bar right there and that view.

(Narrator) Her home bar, The Dang Howdy, was lost, then found after Ian.

On the verge of Ian's second anniversary, Kayes friends and neighbors pledged not to give up on San Carlos Island.

We're trying to keep it alive.

Would you leave?

Hell no, no.

I aint goin anywhere.

No, I'm not going anywhere.

If another storm comes up?

(chatter) If another storm comes up, maybe we will build higher.

(Narrator) There wasn't a question of if.

Hurricane Helene was on the way.

In September 2024, the Category 4 storm struck Florida's northwest coast and caused extreme rain and catastrophic flooding far beyond.

It was called the worst storm in a century for Tampa Bay.

Storm surge also flooded parts of coastal Southwest Florida.

Still recovering from Ian.

In fact, events for the second anniversary of Ian were called off as workers cleared roads.

For Ian survivors, it felt like déjà vu.

Oh!

Oh, it's dripping from the top.

How nice.

Must be a leak in the roof.

Let me get a bucket.

[chuckles] It never ends, does it?

(Narrator) Less than two weeks after Helene, Hurricane Milton threatened Southwest Florida.

At the same time, two other hurricanes spun in the Atlantic basin.

Emergency managers called for mandatory evacuations across the region.

Tyrone Morgan scrambled to protect his mother's home before hunkering down in a condo far from water.

His grandmother, Daisy Cannon, was top of mind.

We made sure we got her packed up today because if they're gonna expect us to have water in the home, we had to make sure she didn't float away.

Since she's already floated away.

Right?

(Narrator) He checked in with his mother, Jackie, who was visiting family up north.

I saved your mom, too.

And then I'll keep you updated.

It really makes you think about living down here now.

Like I don't want to deal with the water stress anymore, you know what I'm saying?

So (Narrator) Hurricane Milton raged ashore on Siesta Key, just west of Sarasota, as a Category 3.

Milton spawned a record number of tornadoes across the state.

Storm surge peaked around ten feet near Manasota Key in Charlotte County.

Milton's impact stretched north to Tampa Bay, which experienced record rainfall, and south to Naples, recording its second highest water levels since 1965.

After Ian.

Once it was safe, Tyrone checked on his mother's home in Naples.

It looked like we might have survived in town so far, man.

Just got over here.

Looking at the walls.

Dont look like the water got as high as I think it might have gotten... Parts of Manasota Key were in ruins.

Oh, it's awful, it's it's awful.

This is such a beautiful place.

We're paying the price for living in paradise, I guess.

(Narrator) That price was getting high for Judi Woods, who had restored her Fort Myers Beach home after Ian, only to be flooded by Helene and Milton.

[speaking Spanish] Here you go guys.

Misael is sweeping mud right now.

There's mud about, I'll send you pictures.

Probably about two feet of water in the house.

Little more than, um, ah, Helene.

[sweeping] Thank god I have insurance, because many people don't.

My premiums have gone up to $14,000.

So that's why I have to continue to work so I can live on the beach.

(Narrator) She was not ready to leave her beloved home of decades.

If somebody was going to just say, I'm done, and they tried to sell their house, who is going to look at this and say, oh Jesus, I'm not going there.

So, you know.

I dont know, anyway, I'm here to stay.

Mud, water, rain, insanity.

That's it.

(Narrator) The 2024 hurricane season demoralized Ian victims.

Some had experienced flooding from multiple storms in three months.

Many thought they would be free from surge at least a while after Ian.

It had been called the storm of the century for Southwest Florida.

The storm of the century or 100-year storm doesn't mean that you get a 100-year break, just means the intensity of that might not be experienced for another 100 years, but it doesn't have to be 100 years.

People are just fed up.

It's sad.

They don't want to do it anymore.

They're like, it's time to go so.

There's a there's a lot of PTSD that's going on right now because of what they've experienced in the past.

And you know what they may be subject to in the future.

You just don't know what to be scared for or when.

So just every time you just have this increase of anxiety like, oh my gosh, what at this time is one of those bad times.

(Narrator) Despite the recurring trauma, some positive news emerged after the storms.

While many residents ignored evacuation orders for Ian.

In 2024, more people listened.

Milton prompted one of the state's largest evacuations in history.

You know, I think it, finally put the fear in a lot of people down here to say, we better go, because I've never seen so many people on the road evacuating.

(Narrator) Experts credit Milton's lower death toll to evacuations and preparedness.

Repeat storms taught residents and agencies like the Englewood Fire Department to be ready for water.

Englewood is along the Gulf Coast, close to Charlotte Harbor.

And Charlotte Harbor, for some reason, seems to be a magnet for hurricanes.

So we just we continue to learn lessons from one to the next.

And, um, and unfortunately, we end up buying equipment that we hadn't planned on buying, but we have to have it, because we know that it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when the next one comes.

(Narrator) Anxiety lingered after the 2024 hurricane season.

Was this the new normal?

When you get beat up by Ian and then Milton and Helene, it does cause you to question maybe your sanity, for living there and whether or not that's going to continue.

There's no indication from climate model studies or anything else that that God has it in for Southwest Florida.

Okay?

We've been in a cycle of very busy conditions since 1995.

We've been in a cycle of very busy conditions since 1995.

There's a lot of uncertainty about how long this current busy period will continue.

Partly because we don't know exactly what the cause is.

(Narrator) However, scientists do know that hurricanes are getting more intense.

They're hitting harder, specifically in the form of, um, storm surge is, is greater.

And, and, this might surprise people, um, more rainfall.

Well, if you look at sea level rise and hurricane saltwater flooding, we call it storm surge, that's a big problem.

And that's going to get worse because of global warming.

It is an undeniable fact that we are warming.

Can't be refuted.

We are.

And I've even seen it in Southwest Florida.

The amount of record highs I have almost every year now compared to record lows, it's not even a comparison.

By the end of the century, we may have two foot, three foot, maybe more, of sea level rise here in Southwest Florida.

So what that will mean is every hurricane coming ashore is going to be that much wetter and that much more storm surge flooding.

There will come a time when some of these coastal areas are unlivable and that goes for inland areas, too.

But there will come a time when we can't mitigate all the risk away.

And now you're just throwing good money after bad.

We're almost on a collision course because people are still moving to the to the state.

They move here because of the beaches, right?

So they want to live near the beaches.

They want to live near the most vulnerable areas.

So we've got to get serious in this country about improving building codes.

That's probably one of the biggest things we could do to bring down our vulnerability in this country, is improving building codes and improving access to affordable insurance.

(Narrator) Insurance solutions and resilient housing are critical, as climate disasters destroy communities across the country.

Scientists and engineers are studying how to adapt to this reality.

Newer site-built homes constructed to withstand wind and surge can largely survive storms.

Older homes like Jackie Dean's remain vulnerable.

Elevating homes can be costly and complicated.

Help is limited.

Fortunately, support showed up in River Park East.

I went door to door to determine, did they flood?

What?

What was damaged?

What is left to do?

And, oh, by the way, would you like your house elevated?

Um, 13 of the 20 plus homesteaded homes in this community said yes.

When it became a reality, I went back to those 13 homes and only one said yes, and that was Mrs. Dean.

She talked to me and she told me, you know, what was to be expected.

And she said, you know, she let me know, don't get your hopes up because the houses are so old over here, they may not be able to do it.

(Narrator) If they could do it, Jackie's home would be the first in her neighborhood to be elevated with the state-funded program.

It's, um, a neighborhood that we don't want to see just get wiped and big houses be brought in.

Because, again, this is workforce.

So, you know, we we really did, along with many others, others in the community, put a lot of effort into River Park to repair those houses to make sure people could stay in those houses.

(Narrator) But first they had to analyze the soil beneath Jackie's home.

Jackie watched in anticipation.

Not long into the process, the drill hit shallow rock.

Oh, I'm just you can see, I'm just jubilant.

Now we scientifically understand what's underneath.

And we we've analyzed the outside of the house, which is what they're doing now.

And now we know it can be elevated.

We hit rock.

That's a good thing.

I just can't believe its happening.

It's something I could have never afford on my own.

And to be blessed this way, its amazing and awesome.

(Narrator) However, eight months after the soil testing, the project still had not broken ground.

It's been hard.

At times, I'm gonna be honest, I felt like I don't want to go through this.

I'm tired of this.

Is it worth it?

(Narrator) One hurdle was that it needed to go before the Naples Planning Board, and quickly.

Hurricane season approached.

A meeting was set for April 2025.

Jackie Dean missed her son, (sigh) who had recently moved to Tampa.

I feel lost without him.

He's my rock.

(Narrator) The project contractor presented what was needed.

We're basically going to just lift this home straight up.

(Board member) It looks to me like you're going to raise the house 7.4ft, is that correct?

Yes, sir.

So, I'm the state grant coordinator for Collier Community Foundation.

(Narrator) Penny Taylor explained why it was needed.

The president of the association has described River Park as a bowl, a bowl that collects the water from surrounding areas.

And I think that's a pretty darn good description.

And I think that's a pretty darn good description.

And he stated to me two weeks ago, the only way we can save our neighborhood is to elevate it.

I think if Naples has a historic neighborhood, this is this is the historic neighborhood.

(Penny) Here, here.

(Narrator) The board chair asked the association president if the community was advocating for city funds to fix the infrastructure.

Oh, we're definitely doing that.

It seems to be falling on deaf ears.

But if you haven't fixed the infrastructure for an area that's been there as long as River Park has.

They have been neglected in every way.

(Narrator) The discussion shifted back to the homeowner the board could help.

Would Jackie Dean like to speak?

Im only, if I take off the shoes, Im 4-11.

[chuckling] When the water came into my house, it's was up to here.

And I was so stressed out because my mom in 1962 purchased that home.

So I'm just I'm asking and I'm not.

I don't want to say I'm begging, but I hope you guys make this dream come true for me.

Because it would be an everlasting dream, and the most memorable thing I would have my mother, Daisy Cannon.

(Narrator) The board soon voted.

(Woman) Member Mair.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

[applause] (Narrator) The next step was the city council, where it also won unanimous approval.

(Woman) Mayor Heitmann.

Ah yes.

This is a fantastic project, and we look forward to the success.

(Narrator) Jackies dream was coming to fruition.

May 12th mobilization.

Boots on the ground.

Yeah.

So just get it going.

Well get her goin.

I know my mom's watching.

I know she's happy that they're doing this for me.

And in the future, I hope theyre doing it for a lot of others in that neighborhood.

Mine is just a start.

Funding for this program was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Additional support provided by Howard K. and Nancy B. Cohen The Jack Forté Foundation and the following: