People across Southwest Florida were picking up the pieces and putting as many as they could back together Oct. 10, the day after Hurricane Milton brushed the region along the coastline before making landfall near Siesta Key and Sarasota at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 9.
The business world largely remained shut down for a third consecutive day as government officials, business owners and residents assessed damage to their properties after preparing them and then enduring the storm.
Captiva Island lost an iconic restaurant in The Mucky Duck. The restaurant, which opened in 1976 at 11546 Andy Rosse Lane, survived Hurricane Ian’s damage despite being near buried in sand. More sand again surged into the building during Hurricane Helene, puncturing some windows. The restaurant did not have enough time to be fortified in advance of Hurricane Milton’s surging waters, which penetrated and then washed out the entire interior of the building, according to photographs posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page. Only an empty shell of the building remained.
Owner Andreas Bieri evacuated to Fort Lauderdale and said he would discuss it after returning to survey the scene himself. A statement on The Mucky Duck’s Facebook page indicated Bieri will rebuild the island staple.
“We obviously have some work to do, but we are gathering our village and plan to make the necessary repairs to our property as soon as possible,” the statement reads “There is road damage on Captiva that needs to be fixed, but we know Lee County will make that happen at its earliest ability. What happened was very disheartening of course, but for the sake of our staff and everyone who loves the Duck, we are going to give it another go. We cannot express how much your love, support and prayers mean to us.”
Fort Myers Beach reopened the Mantanzas Pass Bridge at noon Oct. 10 for residents only, as Estero Boulevard, recently cleared of sand following Hurricane Helene, again received a deluge of sand packed onto the road from Milton.
Government road crews already were excavating the sand from the road but reports on how most businesses fared are sketchy because the island remained closed.
Anita Cereceda, the town’s first mayor, just reopened her gift shop, The Islander Gift Gallery & Boutique, the previous week, two years after Ian, only to evacuate all of her new merchandise in advance of Milton. She said the inside of her store suffered minimal damage from a couple of inches of water that seeped inside.
Elsewhere in Lee County, many of the assessments have been relatively positive, especially when comparing it to Hurricane Ian two years ago.
The biggest challenge for most: getting power restored. FPL reported about 117,000 outages in Lee County; Lee County Electric Cooperative reported at least 68,000 outages in Lee County.
In downtown Fort Myers, business owners and landlords along First Street, Bay Street and Dean Street — all of which typically flood when the nearby Caloosahatchee River swells from storm surge — reported mostly positive results from their preparations.
Kearns Restaurant Group, which owns Izzy’s Fish and Oyster House, Cabos Cantina, Firestone, Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza, Social House and The Lodge downtown, experienced very minimal damage, said Managing Partner Nils Richter. Those restaurants all planned to open this weekend.
“Downtown is looking good,” Richter said. “Only minimal damage from flooding. Mainly on Bay Street. But nothing major. We are out of power though. So, I hope that can be fixed. If we get power back soon, our stores can be back open for lunch (Oct. 11).”
Richter said other downtown businesses, especially along Bay Street one block to the north of First Street and closer to the river, fared worse.
“But it’s also nothing that can’t be remedied rather quickly,” he said.
Edison and Ford Winter Estates suffered minimal damage, said Michael Flanders, president and CEO.
“The buildings are fine,” Flanders said. “The power line that feeds the museum is very old. We’ve told FPL about it. We’ve told the city about it. This is the third time that it has been down since I’ve been here.”
The Fort Myers tourist and historic attraction will reopen by Oct. 12. If the museum doesn’t have power restored by then, Flanders said tickets would be discounted.
Downtown House of Pizza, also known as DHOP, lost its sign above the door and lost its power until 1:46 p.m. Oct. 10. But it did not lose its streak of reopening the day after being impacted by major hurricanes. The restaurant at 1520 Hendry St. also reopened the day after Hurricane Ian.
