Fort Myers Beach businesses preparing for Helene

Reporter: Claire Galt Writer: Tim Belizaire
Published: Updated:

The people who own businesses on Fort Myers Beach, like Nervous Nellie’s, are closing down to prepare for the effects of Helene.

Nervous Nellie’s shut their doors at 4 p.m. Wednesday. They finished up the preparations by setting up sandbags.

The area under the Matanzas Pass Bridge floods fast.

Leanne Golson is a manager at the Harbor House, which is right under the Matanzas Pass Bridge.

“I’m really nervous,” said Golson.

Time and time again she’s seen storm surge at Fort Myers Beach and said it is no joke.

“We get a lot of water in this area right here,” said Golson.

Hurricane Debby flooded Fort Myers Beach in August. It was a tropical storm when it went through the beach.

HOA president Todd Richardson said the surge soaked the area and ruined the baseboards and flooring.

“All the work that we had done after Ian was just completed, and we took on another eight inches of water, so we’ve had to redo the bottom half of all the commercial units on the lower level since then,” said Richardson.

Danny Timothy is a manager at Nervous Nellie’s he said the business had water damage during Debby.

“The flooding affected us the most,” said Timothy.

He said the business had water damage during Hurricane Debby.

“We had to pump out the elevator,” said Timothy. “It just seems like any kind of rain we get, we get water built up in the street, you know, in any kind of storm surge we get.”

Debby brought 2 to 4 feet of surge. WINK News Weather Authority Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt estimates 3 to 5 feet of storm surge from Helene.

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