Hurricane stories

Pieces of people’s homes, docks, and chunks of boats are in the Southwest Florida water. From the surface, our beaches may look okay, but it’s what is underneath that we need to look out for after Hurricane Ian. People want to get back to swimming in the Gulf, although they’re also nervous about what’s in […]

Working to better a community is what Roger Hernstadt, the Fort Myers Beach town manager, discussed in his resignation letter. Hernstadt said Hurricane Ian negatively impacted much of what he did for the town in his six years, and Hernstadt feels new leadership will help with the area’s future. On Monday, members of the Fort […]

A rush to get permits approved to start work on some projects is happening in Cape Coral after the city closed down the Art Center emergency permitting location last week. Blue tarps are commonplace in Cape Coral even six weeks after Hurricane Ian. With a lot of work left to be done, the permitting counter […]

Relentless Hope recorded a music video in front of the remains of their home after Hurricane Ian. Katy Lingle-Pinson, the founder of Save The Closet, was one of the thousands of people that saw the video and was so moved by the video, she brought her charity to Florida. WINK News spoke to a few […]

Time is running out to take care of damaged vessels from Hurricane Ian because Tuesday is the last day to get them out of the water. WINK News went to three marinas on Fort Myers Beach and didn’t see a single person getting any damaged boats out. Although, there are plenty of damaged boats still […]

Before Hurricane Ian, the permitting counter at city hall was closed on Fridays to make progress on the backlog since the office had been open six days a week for emergency permits. People come to city hall every day for many different reasons, lately, a lot of them come to file permits to start the […]

The Sanibel Lighthouse took a beating during Hurricane Ian, to the point it lost a leg, but the island is working to get the bright light on once again. While the lighthouse is no longer missing a leg since a temporary fix was set in place. Holly Smith, the mayor of Sanibel, called it a […]

A very successful event on Veterans Day seeing runners lacing up and crossing the finish line at the Midpoint Bridge 5K. Racers like Joshua Dorsey were amped up and ready to go when they got to the bridge. “I’m trying to win. But if I can do like 18 or something, I’d be happy with […]

High winds from Ian pushed all sorts of things where they weren’t supposed to be, and Jolene Chesley wants a tiki hut off her property that Ian left there. Chesley told WINK News that job number one is finding someone to get it off her property. “It’s depressing,” Chesley said. “Because my whole house is […]

Bayfront Bistro is the first to reopen on Fort Myers Beach since Hurricane Ian washed away homes and decimated businesses. One of the perks of being the only business open in the area, you get all the customers to yourself. Even if the menu is a little bit smaller, for the time being, customers explained […]