'Fort Myers Beach is gone': Waterfront workers recount Hurricane Ian devastation

Fort Myers Beach was where the Stough brothers made their living.

They said in an interview that it had been completely destroyed.

The 7-Eleven is no longer open. The whale is no longer with us. Mitch told The News-Press that all the restaurants have closed. All of Times Square is gone. The thing has leveled.

Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on Florida's coastline, and Fort Myers Beach was one of the hardest hit. The town was torn apart by a storm surge and 150 mph winds when it made landfall.

They sheltered on the third floor of the beach club. They could see the chaos from the front row. The waves demolished the lower floors of buildings and carried away vehicles.

Mitch said that their car flew.

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He said that the beach town's commercial center was destroyed by the storm. The storm surge stripped the first floor of the vacation spot.

Concrete pillars are going up. He said there wasn't anything there. The beach is no longer there.

The approach to the island on San Carlos Boulevard was destroyed on Thursday.

The boats were ripped from their storage yards the previous night. The first one, then a pair, then more and more. The marina buildings were destroyed close to the Matanzas Pass Bridge. The bridge was unsafe to cross, so sheriff's deputy blocked access to the island.

The Stough brothers talked to The News-Press after crossing the bridge to their home neighborhood.

There was also havoc wreaked by the storm. Houses were torn apart by winds and water. The boat was pulled out of the driveway by the storm. The residents looked shellshocked as they began the monumental task of cleaning up.

There was no return forMitch andMike. They were going to move somewhere else, according toMitch.

We don't have anything here for us. We no longer have jobs. We lost our car. He said there wasn't anything open. It will take two years to get this thing back into shape.

This article was originally published on the News-Press.