LEE COUNTY, Fla. — Hurricane Ian made landfall six months ago on Sept. 28, 2022. It destroyed businesses, homes and took more than 100 lives.
Fox 4's Kaitlin Knapp checked in with several business owners and residents we talked to shortly after the hurricane.
Vicki Gillis had several inches of water in her Cape Coral home.
"This is the home my husband and I wanted. It was everything," she said back in November 2022.
She had to gut her house, get a new roof and rebuild.
On March 28, 2022, Gillis says she is bouncing back.
"Every once in a while will cry about what happened, but I just look around and my house was still standing," she said. "A lot of people didn’t have that."
The homeowner put her house back together with the help of workers and her friends.
"Homeowners insurance offered me $9,000," Gillis said. "Most of the repairs I’ve done to the house have come out of my own pocket."
That's because of an issue with her insurance and mortgage. Her deductible was more than $27,000 between homeowners and flood.
"I feel good, I feel proud of myself for getting this done," Gillis said. "I’m never going to take this for granted again. I'm just happy I'm back together."
In downtown Fort Myers, much of that area suffered flood damage, including Green Cup Cafe on Dean Street.
Only four days after the storm, co-owner Robby Podgorski told Fox 4 the community was starting to rally together for him, offering to help him clean mud caked on the floor.
When we checked back in six months later, Podgorski had some news.
"To sit here and not be in our Dean Street location is definitely bittersweet," he said. "We loved our location on Dean Street."
He said the owner of the building canceled his lease, forcing him to close up shop.
"It’s been unfortunate, but we’ve learned a lot in these six months," Podgorski said. "Six months later, I think we look stronger and better than ever."
They're looking at two different locations in Lee County: one in downtown Fort Myers and another in Estero.
"Everything is meant to happen," he said. "We had the best time in there."
In the meantime, he's been apart of pop-up events and breweries have offered their spaces to support Green Cup Cafe.
"We're hoping to be back in the next two to six months," Podgorski said. "We're just so grateful."
Not only did downtown Fort Myers get hit with flooding, but the coastal communities. They were hit with at least 18 feet of storm surge, including Pine Island.
Sharon Ihlefeld's motel felt the impacts from the water. She owns Serenity Bay Cottages on Matlacha.
"Six months ago I probably cried every single day at least once," she said. "That was a sad time as you were dismantling all the memories, all the art on the walls."
Art her mother had a hand in. Six months later, Ihlefeld is still working hard to get the cottages back up and running.
"Just happened yesterday, we passed the inspection so they started putting up the sheetrock," she said. "Just a week ago you could see through to the other side."
Ihlefeld says they still have a ways to go, but she's looking at the future, not the past.
"The sadness is gone. This is really exciting," she said. "Everything's going to be really, really nice and new."
Ihlefeld is hoping to open this summer, if everything stays on track.
"Focused on the day I can say “we’re open” and start giving back to all the people," she said. "All I can do is move forward and be one more shop or one more motel that is opening on Matlacha."
