Fort Myers Beach watches tropical system growing

Reporter: Elizabeth Biro Writer: Rachel Murphy
Published: Updated:
tropical system
In this drone photo, restaurants operate from food trucks with outdoor seating in the Times Square area, where many businesses were destroyed during Hurricane Ian, in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Wednesday, May 10, 2023. With this year’s Atlantic hurricane season officially beginning June 1, recovery is far from complete in hard-hit Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Pine Island. Blank concrete slabs reveal where buildings, many of them once charming, decades-old structures that gave the towns their relaxed beach vibe, were washed away or torn down. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Fort Myers Beach is keeping a careful eye on a tropical system in the Caribbean that is headed north to the Gulf of Mexico.

People at Fort Myers Beach are paying attention to any developments, as it is forecast to affect the Florida west coast. Where exactly, however, remains uncertain.

Jackie Prieto, a Fort Myers Beach parking attendant, said she and her husband are on alert. “Every morning, he turns the TV on to see if there’s anything brewing,” she said. “He wants to know right away.”

Before Hurricane Ian hit, Jackie and her husband watched the Gulf waters and WINK Doppler 3x every day.

For the people who call Fort Myers Beach home, it’s more than property. It’s the memories, the moments and the community.

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Fort Myers Beach seven months after Ian. CREDIT: WINK News

If the storm brewing in the Caribbean strengthens and heads this way, some are thinking of leaving.

“I’m trying not to think about it. Like trying to suppress it. There’s nothing I can do except get out again. I don’t know how anybody will make it if we get flooded again,” said Marie Proulx, a local AirBnB owner. “I just can’t imagine. Once in, what, 100 years? Could you imagine two years in a row? It just can’t happen.”

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