Hurricane Ian

The sea turtle nesting season that started just months after Ian hit ended up setting records for loggerhead turtles on Sanibel and Captiva island.

In June, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation reported Hurricane Ian resulted in more than 700,000 insurance claims statewide. While some claims remain open, over 86% of them have been closed, and nearly 200,000 of them were closed without payment.

With the help of the community, local charity and arts organizations as well as volunteers, the Venice Theatre company launched its first show just a few months after the Category 4 storm moved through Venice.

People living on Sanibel and Captiva weren’t the only ones driven from their homes by Hurricane Ian’s churning storm surge. Wildlife, amphibians and birds were displaced. Some species have come back fine, others are struggling to survive while others yet remain missing-in-action.

Since 1955, 13 Atlantic storm names beginning with “I” have been retired, according to the National Weather Service. That happens when a storm’s death toll or destruction is so severe that using its name again would be insensitive.

The estimated cost of long-term disaster recovery after Hurricane Ian is $2.5 billion. The latest installment of federal funds gives Florida counties less than half of that.

"He would be out of town for a week and be fine where he was staying for work, and come home and literally spend the weekend in the hospital," said Kendra Elliott about her fiancé who suffered from mold poisoning.

Florida citrus officials say growers are getting more anxious while continuing to wait for federal assistance approved after Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Nicole last fall.

In the months after Hurricane Ian made landfall, residents in Fort Myers Beach, Pine Island, and Sanibel, Florida have struggled to navigate insurance claims, building permits, and government aid as they rebuild their lives.

The study by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found warming waters in the eastern Pacific that produce winds that steer hurricanes are likely to shift toward the southeast U.S. and Gulf coasts.

Inhabited and uninhabited, barrier islands move. They will need fortification to survive predicted increases in sea level rise.

Floridians are bracing for additional rate hikes as they are already paying higher monthly payments than homeowners in other states.