There is a black line next to the door frame of Right Choice, which was built in the 1960s. She pointed to the water line that was left days earlier.
The last town before Florida's southwest coast was wiped out by Hurricane Ian's storm surge and Gengenbach spent Friday clearing mud and ruined food from her store.
Though Ian didn't cause the catastrophic damage seen farther north, the surge of seawater tore through the first floors of homes, sparking a fire at a two-generation airboat business and sending neighbors scrambling to rescue one another in johnboats that sped atop a city turned into a lake.
There are no easy fixes in Florida.
Many in this small but resilient community that has weathered everything from a decades-old reputation for smuggling to a history of devastating strikes by hurricanes were not surprised that the community hasn't gotten a lot of attention.
The public and media focus after weather events is different from the attention given to the town's wealthier neighbors to the north.
Friends and family helped one another clean mud and haul belongings to the curb in the heat on Friday after the water had left the roads. People have known each other for a long time.
At the height of the surge, people were able to boat down most of the streets in the town.
She stated that it was solid water.
Most of the crab boats were secured by people who depended on them for their income.
We don't go away. "We're fishermen and we're still fighting for an insurance claim from Hurricane Irma," said the 49-year-old, who cleaned the mud from her yard and lamented that she was still fighting for an insurance claim from the storm.
The storm could be good for crabbing, according to Rick Collins, a long time fisherman. It was a storm that he didn't expect.
The youngest grandson was 11 years old at the time. When Hurricane Donna hit, he told him, it would be 70 more years before we had another one. It's definitely not.
Donna hit Everglades City with 150 mph winds in 1960 and caused a lot of damage that moved the seat of the county to East Naples. The city faced many challenges over the decades.
The most important thing is that the people of Florida are safe. They found a place to stay.
A series of drug raids in the early 1980s resulted in the seizure of half the town's fishing fleet.
Commercial fishing in the town was hampered by a ban on large nets.
There were more hurricanes in 1992. There was a storm in the year of 2017:
The 10,000 Islands and waterside restaurants that serve stone crab and grouper draw tourists to the area.
Ian's surge came higher and faster than anticipated, according to residents. Collins and his dog had to get out of the window, according to his daughter-in-law.
Manager Donna Vanleeuwen and other people were cleaning and throwing out food and equipment at a waterside restaurant on Friday. The fishing boat was likely sunk by the storm.
This is our life, this is what it is. This is us, how our Florida journalists are covering Ian.
It took a week before people came down to help.
Todd Johnson stood next to the charred remains of a building. The rising water and electricity caused a fire at the airboat company started by his father. Some of his boats were damaged.
He said it would be difficult to rebuild. He was used to it.
He said that they knew the routine. It was all too well.
Chris is a journalist. He can be reached via email at ckenning@usatoday.com and on the social media sites.
"We know the routine" is the motto of the city after Hurricane Ian.
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