FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Fort Myers Beach resident Brian Wetzel can't wash away the memory or dry up the pain since Hurricane Ian.
"I stayed in my house," he said. "There was a lot of water that came in."
Rescue crews eventually forced Wetzel to evacuate his rented home of more than 10 years, and he hasn't been back since.
"I only took what I could fit in two garbage bags," Wetzel told WPTV.
Wetzel bounced between multiple shelters in the months following Hurricane Ian. He also lived in a tent for a short period of time before a trailer issued by the state of Florida came through as an option.
WPTV asked Jill Palmer, American Red Cross executive director covering Florida's southern Gulf Coast, how many people in the Fort Myers area are having an experience similar to Wetzel.
"We have about 800 shelter-resident transition clients," Palmer said.
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In addition, Palmer said, there is a two-year commitment by the American Red Cross to spend all $94 million raised by the nonprofit on Hurricane Ian recovery efforts.
"There is donor fatigue when it comes to disasters," Palmer said. "With these repeated disasters, back-to-back-to-back, it becomes background noise."
Palmer said the American Red Cross is increasingly responding to weather-related disasters. By comparison, Palmer said, in the 1980s, the American Red Cross responded to an average of three weather-related disasters per year worth $1 billion each. In the last five years, Palmer said, that figure has climbed to 18.
Palmer also said Lee County, encompassing Fort Myers Beach, just received one of 10 designations in the country, paving the way for indefinite support from the American Red Cross. The area's vulnerability to natural disasters is one factor leading to that designation.
That lasting support, coupled with the dedication of Red Cross volunteers, brings hope to many who call Fort Myers Beach home.
Want to volunteer with the American Red Cross? Here's how to get involved.
