Captiva Island, Florida — Debris piles up on Captiva Island as some residents return to clean up debris from Hurricane Ian.
“The sky is blue and the sun is shining…I think it’s just a dichotomy between the devastation you see and the sunset we saw on the beach last night, and that’s just a sliver of hope.” Resident Chris Howard said.
It’s moments like these that give Howard and his family hope that things will return to normal.
“It was a whole feeling of sadness. It was a house I had been going to for 75 years. I honeymooned in this house in 1983. My aunt has had the house for over 20 years. Here.” has many family memories.
Howard’s house is under construction, but this pile of rubble is just a block away from his aunt’s house.
“Everything was soaking wet, so everything in the kitchen was gone and everything in the bathroom had to be taken out,” Howard said.
He said there are storm surges in the area, unlike Hurricane Charlie.
“There’s a water pipe here that shows how much water has gotten into the house,” he said.
Its waterline reached two feet inside the house.
“When the water receded, there was this green muddy silt all over the floor,” he said.
Deleting these items, he said, felt like deleting memories shared by the family.
“For anyone who’s been to the islands we talked about, it’s the price of paradise,” Howard said.
There are signs of hope around the island.
“We have a house like the Mucky Duck restaurant on the beach here,” Howard said. is.”
And now many are turning it back on and this is all a sign of rebuilding
