Southwestern Florida residents continue cleanup efforts, including in the Bonita Springs area, after the devastating disruption caused by Hurricane Ian’s winds and storm surge this week.
Bonita Beach Road is surrounded by bays on both sides and is just a few blocks from the Gulf of Mexico. On the street leading to Barefoot Beach, stunned residents stuck cellphones out of the windows of their slow-moving cars to document the various boats littered on either side of the street.
Most of them probably belonged to Omar Botana, who owned Bay Water Boat Club and Rentals for 18 years.
About 50 of his ships were swept away by the storm surge of Hurricane Ian.
“This is my sixth hurricane, but it’s really one of the worst,” he said.
Botana estimated that about 85% of his boats scattered in all directions were salvageable due to the speed of the storm surge, and said it actually helped keep them intact.
“When it comes slowly, that’s when the damage is at its worst,” said Botana. [up] where i ended up with some [up] that side. But it was too much water, so they floated. ”
The furthest boat from Botana’s company was about 400m away, but he was optimistic.
“Boats can be replaced, but lives cannot be replaced. So, sadly, we will be back in business. It’s only a matter of time,” Botana said.
A few blocks east on Bonita Beach Road is the classic video game store called Jason Crosser’s 8-Bit Hall of Fame (or remnants of it). Crosser sat in a chair just outside the shop’s hull, looking defeated, amid large shards of broken glass, video game cases, and gray mud.
“I don’t know why… I came back today because everything was trashed, but I just didn’t want to sit at home doing nothing,” Crosser said.
He started this business 9 years ago with his own personal collection, but has been successful with the support of the local gaming community… until Ian.
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WUSF Public Media
“Everything I was making out of it was going back to the shop for years and years building it and building it…the building was submerged in water and then 9/10ths of it floated up ” he said.
He owned $2 million worth of video games from the 1970s through to his PS-5, and only a tenth of it was insured.
“It kind of goes back and forth and hits me,” Crosser said. I’ll see how it goes, save some money, and then I might open another store, but I don’t know where it is. ”
Some of Crosser’s classic games were found a mile or so away, ruined by salt water or crushed by passing cars.
Bonita Beach Road biker Sara Simon was taking a break from flooding at her home in Bonita Shores, but the storm didn’t force her out of Florida. She just moved with her daughter from California five months before her.
Jessica Mezzaros
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WUSF Public Media
“I loved it when we came here. I still love it, but it’s so sad to see the devastation. Or the people and the loss and the beauty that is currently in disarray. ‘said Simon, and she worries about how demand for contractors in the area will slow the recovery.
At the corner of Bonita Beach Road and Hickory Boulevard, Steven Bloomrosen was eyeing the damage on Barefoot Beach for the first time since evacuating his Bonita Springs condo in an RV.
“The beach is supposed to be on the beach, and it’s in the middle of the street. I don’t know what to do further down the road. It’s two miles to my house,” Blumrosen said.
Law enforcement has blocked off traffic, and only residents with proper identification were allowed past Barefoot Beach. From that vantage point, we could see the pile of rubble where the famous local hangout and restaurant, Doc’s Beach House, once lived.
Jessica Mezzaros
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WUSF Public Media
WUSF cannot get close enough to verify Doc’s phone number, and although it is non-working, locals speculate that it will need to be reconstructed.
Blumrosen said that when his father was alive, he and his family would regularly walk from the mansion to Doc’s house together.
“I’m devastated,” Blumrosen said.
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