Fort Myers Beach Resident Gives Reminder After Hurricane Ian: ‘Don’t Forget Us’
FORT MYERS BEACH (FLV) – A drive on Fort Myers Beach will show concrete slabs where businesses and houses used to stand as the close-knit community continues to recover following Hurricane Ian’s destruction.
Residents like Tammy Drake are still trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. She has lived on Fort Myers Beach for 26 years with her family.
Drake said her roof had started to float during the storm. She lost everything and currently lives in a camper as she and her neighbors work to rebuild.
“Every time I leave the island I feel sad. This is where my heart is. This is where my kids were born and raised,” Drake explained. “It would have been really difficult to leave and be heartbreaking to leave.”
Immediately after the storm, groups from across the country flocked to help. Since then, the Red Cross has stopped and Drake is concerned about FEMA’s shower and laundry services ending.
Don’t forget us. We’re still just winging it down here. We’re doing the best we can and I think we’re doing amazing, but at the same time, we can’t do this on our own.
Fort Myers Beach Resident Tammy Drake
Drake encouraged people to ask residents on the island how they can help. She said the island’s needs continue to change as the rebuilding process evolves.
“Give us time to heal, of course, come in and get your gloves on,” she said. “Just go door to door and see who needs what.”
“No matter how many people on this island pull together, there just aren’t enough of us to tackle this devastation.”
The Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce lists other ways people can help the island.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Friday that would halt people with destroyed homes from paying property taxes.
“Oh, that is huge. That is just absolutely huge,” Drake exclaimed. “When you have such an expense right now of replacing everything that you own and replacing your vehicle and toiletries and just literally everything, that just takes a huge weight off the shoulders.”
The governor’s office asked Drake to speak at the Friday press conference.
“I thought about it and I’m like, well, somebody needs to be a voice for us,” Drake told Florida’s Voice. “You know, we’re kind of getting forgotten about here.”
I couldn’t be more proud of the way our community has pulled together and helped each other through this devastation. I feel honored to live among such incredible people. FEMA, Red Cross and many others have been a godsend to us. But as they start to move on, I was concerned that we would be forgotten when we still need so much help to get back on our feet. Thank you to Governor DeSantis and the legislature for this disaster relief bill. It will take a huge weight off of our shoulders financially and also helps us to know that we aren’t alone in this. Fort Myers Beach strong.
Tammy Drake’s Friday Speech Excerpt
Drake currently works at Wahoo Willies Tiki Bar & Grill, one of the few restaurants open on the island.
“It is my happy place. It really is. It gets me away from trying to put all the pieces back together and just bo be around people that are smiling and just happy that we’re open,” Drake said. “And the owners there are phenomenal. They just pushed it out so quickly in order to get us back to work.”
