BONITA BEACH, Fla. — Adam Botana has spent his whole life around the Florida coastline and he’s never experienced anything like Hurricane Ian.
“We’ve never seen storm surge like this before,” the Florida state representative said.
Botana’s district 76 covers most of the Lee County coastline, exactly where Ian made landfall Wednesday as a category 4 hurricane with winds of 155 miles per hour.
He met with the lieutenant governor and other local leaders at the county’s emergency operations center Friday to get the latest. He’s working with representatives on the east coast to deliver drinking water to residents on the barrier islands.
“We’ve seen trucks from Coral Gables, we see trucks from Pinellas, Jacksonville, all over. It’s great, great to see,” he said.
Longterm, Botana is considering hiring additional staff at his office specifically to connect constituents directly with help from the state.
“Everybody’s helping right now,” he pointed out. “It’s a week a now when we really start to worry and that’s when I’ll start screaming into the phone [to get help for my constituents].”
You can reach Botana’s office by calling 239-949-6279
