Relief in SWFL as the 2023 official hurricane season ends Friday

Reporter: Elizabeth Biro Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:

Thursday is the last day of the 182-day-long 2023 Hurricane Season.

Many on Fort Myers Beach are calling themselves lucky after slipping through the season without a Hurricane-Ian-like storm hitting Southwest Florida again.

Many are telling WINK News they are grateful the hurricane season will be in their rearview mirror as of Friday.

Steve Hausherr is one of the lucky ones, given he’s a stone’s throw away from Times Square on Fort Myers Beach.

“There were 20 houses on the street. There’s eight left,” said Hausherr.

He, his wife Diane and dogs Cooper and Ziggy are the only ones living on the street after Hurricane Ian. Thursday, he’s doing some landscaping, throwing the ball to Cooper in between and feeling grateful the 2023 hurricane season has ended.

2023 hurricane season map. CREDIT: WINK News

“I don’t think we could take another one like the last one, so it’s a relief,” said Hausherr.

Hausherr expects to hear construction every day for the next five to 10 years but will nevertheless celebrate the end of hurricane season.

“It’s still the beach. The Gulf is still there,” said Hausherr.

WINK News met Steve Olson, who sighed with relief when we told him it was the end of the season.

“The whole thing is a relief after September 28,” said Olson.

Richard Cain is a Lee Tram attendant, driving up and down Fort Myers Beach daily with a front-row seat to the destruction and rebuilding.

“For the last year, 14 months, all we’ve been doing is hauling debris,” said Cain.

It’s something that Cain doesn’t ever want to do again.

“We don’t need any more hurricanes. We just, I’m hoping for the future the next August, we can say, or next September, we can say, hey, we dodged it again,” said Cain.

Walking around Fort Myers Beach, you notice the places still rebuilding, the ones you know would hurt if we had a bad storm in 2023, but many choose to witness the progress.

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