FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — The rebuild from Hurricane Ian looks a little different everywhere you look. Some people are back in their homes and businesses. Some people haven’t even started. For a long time, some spots still looked just like they did the day after the storm. Some places still do, one year later.
On Fort Myers Beach you can still see right through some homes and businesses, but you also see crews hard at work re-nourishing beaches Ian eroded and putting condos back together one piece at a time. Homes are being elevated or rebuilt from scratch. It’s impressive to see the progress knowing what Southwest Florida endured.
For months and months, a lot of the rubble still lined the streets. There were millions of cubic yards to pick up from dry land and the water. Today, it’s harder to come but there are some mountains of what once was – waiting to be moved.
Slowly but surely, the work continues. Some areas simply look empty and with so many staples wiped away, it can be hard to get your bearings.
But behind things like the broken pier on Fort Myers Beach, it’s the people bringing color back to the island and revitalizing the ruins.
In Times Square, one of the only structures still standing is an elevator shaft. Artists like Lacy McClary have been hard at work painting murals on it.
“I’ve actually lived on Sanibel for the past 15 years. I had my art studio right over the bridge, down by simmer electric that got wiped out during the storm. My home, I no longer live there. They ended up selling the property,” said McClary.
She loves the Lee County islands, so she’s determined to stay.
“I’m staying in Fort Myers right now. I have a temporary studio kind of in a garage space. I’m going to make this work! I don’t care what I have to do.” McClary said. “This is where I want to be. I’m getting to live out my dream doing artwork as a living. A storm can’t change that.”
On September 28, 2022, 149 people lost their lives due to Ian. Many who survived lost everything. Some don’t have the means to rebuild here. Some have chosen to leave after seeing such destruction. McClary knows a lot of people who for whatever reason, had to move on to another place.
“It was traumatic, you know? To either ride out the storm and live through it or come back and see your home broken up like this,” McClary said.
For her, some days are harder than others.
“On the days where I’m feeling sad or maybe even feeling sorry for myself, I realize I’m still here. I’m supposed to be here and I get to do what I love for a living, so why wouldn’t I be grateful for that?” McClary said. “Even though you have tough years, you just keep going and allow yourself to have those emotions and feelings and work through it and get up and go again. If you go down again, get back up and go again.”
No matter how tough it gets, McClary has kept perfecting the mural — a new piece of paradise, something bright among all the darkness.
“This side is dedicated to two locals, they were twins,” she said.
It’s not something people can look to when they feel lost.
“On the other side, I did a seahorse. To sailors, the seahorse represents protection and also a really good omen. It also represents community. They have the ability to see forwards, backwards and sideways and so I thought that was significant because we know what we went through, we know what we’re still going through a year later and we know where we’re headed,” McClary said.
The murals also honor the local shrimpers who lost so much to the storm and sea turtles on one side are meant to remember the lives lost.
On Thursday, the artist and owner of the elevator shaft officially dedicated it to Fort Myers Beach, declaring its new name Legacy Tower.