FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — In the months after Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, it wasn’t out of the norm to see beat-up, flooded cars sitting on plots of land where houses once stood and lining our streets. 

As time went on, many if not all of the vehicles were towed away from communities up and down the Gulf Coast. 

However, one remains. 

On Mid Island Drive on Fort Myers Beach, a flipped-over and barely recognizable SUV sits amid the growing weeds near the corner of Estero Boulevard. 

“It’s been there for quite a while,” said one man who lives along the street. “Quite a few months actually.”

It’s been here since ABC7 first told you about this vehicle. Clean-up crews hired by a property owner found the SUV in a swimming pool. It was hoisted out of the water and muck it sat in for nearly six months. 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: SUV pulled from Fort Myers Beach swimming pool six months after Hurricane Ian

“I’m like, ‘Oh my God. I hope there’s no bodies in there,’” Carres Kennedy told ABC7 in March. 

Kennedy put the vehicle on the side of Mid Island Drive, where it’s been sitting ever since. 

“It’s like a bad memory,” said Councilman Bill Veach, who lives across Estero Boulevard. 

You could even call it a nightmare for people that live along this typically quiet street. They drive past the rusty old piece of parts every single day. 

“It should’ve been gone already,” a resident said. 

So, who’s responsible for clearing the vehicle out of here? 

ABC7 asked the Town of Fort Myers Beach, where local leaders pointed the finger at the State of Florida. A Lee County spokesperson did too. 

When we asked the Florida Division of Emergency Management, who was behind the IanDebrisCleanup.com website, a spokesperson said they’ll start looking into it. 

“It would be nice if everything was clean, but it’s a sign that there’s still a lot of work to do here on the island,” Councilman Veach said. 

It’s a small part of what needs to be done to bring back this piece of paradise many of us have grown to love. 

While we all want it done now, we need to learn to walk before we run. 

“It will be very nice again, it’s just going to take several years,” one resident said.