Hurricane Ian

A couple spent years and tens of thousands of dollars trying to have a baby. Then Hurricane Ian hit.

The number of pelicans and other shorebirds with hooks in their pouches or stomachs, or fishing line wrapped tight around their legs or beaks dropped by 58% across the region after Hurricane Ian in 2022.

FEMA representatives told Lee County and four municipalities within it that residents were losing their long-held flood insurance discounts because they didn’t follow the federal agency’s rules on rebuilding after a storm.

Roofs built after 2015 survived Hurricane Ian better than older roofs, even those on older homes.

Imagine the surprise felt by sea turtle lovers when the number of egg-filled clutches laid on Southwest Florida beaches during last summer’s nesting season totaled a normal year despite shorelines transformed by Hurricane Ian. Even better: The mommas kept coming.

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.