Neighbors begin to clean up after flooding on Fort Myers Beach

Reporter: Elizabeth Biro
Published: Updated:

Waking up Friday morning, Fort Myers Beach neighbors had deja vu.

The sight of debris, the sound of alarms and the unmistakable smell of mud brought back memories of Hurricane Ian.

“It’s the sludge. It’s the sludge and the smell,” said FMB resident Mike Wyatt.

That thick grey, slippery sludge that covered parts of Southwest Florida after Hurricane Ian was back again.

Wyatt has owned his home on Ohio Avenue for nine years.

“So we left with Ian, obviously, but coming back, there was a lot of devastation,” said Wyatt.

Wyatt and the family stayed for Helene and watched the water flood quickly on Estero Boulevard and their street.

The water never made it into the home.

The waterline on Wyatt’s home

“The feeling is that that’s part of life. You just can’t control any of that. You gotta let that go,” said Wyatt. “You gotta make your decisions upfront. You know, whether you want to be here.”

The sludge, the smell and the sights are reminiscent of Hurricane Ian, but so is the comradery.

On Friday morning, neighbors also checked on each other and helped where they could.

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