"Come, see how far we've come": Businesses on Pine Island want you to pull up a chair
PINE ISLAND, Fla. — As you drive through Pine Island two years after Hurricane Ian, you see signs of progress and hope. Restaurants area back open, bridges under construction and people working on island. What you might not see or realize from the view of the main road is that so many individuals are still struggling to get back on their feet.
Erin Lollar Lambert, sees the struggles first hand. She is the Executive Director of the Greater Pine Island Alliance, a long term recovery group on island that's helping people still living in crisis.
"We still have so many individuals, 100% displaced," Lambert explained. "We got a call just the other day that we have to muck and gut a home. We have survivors living in active mold. We have young families living in campers and trailers because their homes are not solvent yet," she said.
Erin's team at GPIA says it's not unusual to meet islanders that have no idea there's still help out there and available to them.
"We hear that all the time, but people have no idea that there were still resources," she said.
"We have the underinsured, we have uninsured, we have elderly individuals who are still in that brain fog of the storm and cannot process that there are things that have to be demoed," says Lambert.
It's not just homeowners facing these challenges. The local businesses are trying to get back to "normal" two years later. The Waterfront Restaurant in Saint James City just reopened six months ago. They want people to make the drive to Saint James City to come and see them and the owner of Blue Dog on Matlacha echoes that.
John Lynch lost so much at his restaurant during Ian. The building had several feet of water inside.
"Salt water in here for about six hours, just like a washing machine. Anything that was four feet and below was saltwater just ruined," John recalled.
Despite the overwhelming loss, he felt lucky to have some things they could salvage at Blue Dog.
"We had walls, we had a roof, and we were lucky, like, luckier than a lot. So we felt immediately like, alright, we have to rebuild," he said.
Just three and a half months later, the Blue Dog was back up and running. When we talked about the feelings he was going through during that time, one thing really stood out. John reflected on the people.
"The community was amazing. And we had neighbors that lost everything that were coming and helping us, helping us, and they lost everything." He showed me his goosebumps while he shared how great the community was.
As Pine Island continues to rebuild, and it's still got a long way to go, John urges everyone to remember those still suffering from the storm's impact.
"There's people that are still suffering daily. So while most places have come back around Southwest Florida, Pine Island, Matlacha, Sanibel, Fort Myers Beach, those people are still in the middle of it, and so anything you can do to support them and help them," he said.
Lollar Lambert says she's in it for the long haul.
"We will keep doing so until we return every survivor to a safe, sanitary, and secure environment. The road to recovery is long, but together, we are stronger than the surge."
