Bokeelia resident uses YouTube account to help Pine Island community post-Hurricane Ian

Jay Nygard knew Hurricane Ian was coming to the Fort Myers area.

Despite the conflicting reports for over a week, he just had this strong feeling.

And yet, he wasn't too concerned for his renewably powered home in Bokeelia, right at the top of Pine Island.

The president of Go Green Energy and part-time YouTuber said he made a video the night before from his primary address in Minnesota, telling viewers he wasn't nervous for Ian's impact on his Florida home.

"My house was built after Hurricane Andrew and it can withstand the hurricanes and I know I've put renewable energies throughout it, so when the power goes out, my beer is gonna stay cold in the fridge kind of thing," Nygard said. "I knew there wasn't really a lot to worry about for my home... I was more concerned about about other people in the community who weren't so ready."

Now over a week since Ian's terror ended, Nygard has journeyed back to Bokeelia and is now posting a new series of videos.

Nygard is using his YouTube channel to help his community come together, as well as share their stories while the whole world is watching the region.

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"There it comes"

There's one thing to know about Nygard right off the bat; he's always liked energy.

So when the mechanical engineer and former nuclear power machinist in the U.S. Navy bought his Bokeelia house in 2004, it was no surprise when he decided to turn it "green" a few years later in 2008.

He was in his home in Minnesota when he recalls his wife telling him there was a hurricane forming near the Caribbean, possibly headed to Florida where their Bokeelia home was.

Like most at the time, he didn't think too much of it initially.

"We hadn't had a big one come through lately, so I wasn't too worried... the interesting thing was the closer it got, they said it was going into Tampa Bay, the more I was sure it was coming here," Nygard said. "That's exactly what happened with Charley and I just kept watching the radar and sure enough... there it comes."

As the storm got closer and closer, Nygard spoke with his Bokeelia neighbors, checking in to make sure they were doing okay ahead of the hurricane.

When Ian made landfall on Sept. 28, he watched as the "worst-case scenario" took place over a region he loved and called one of his homes for nearly two decades.

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Within 48 hours, Nygard was headed to Bokeelia to help the community.

"I told my wife the day the storm was happening, 'I don't want to talk about what's going to happen next, I just want to see what happens and I can decide.' I got up the next morning and said, 'I'm going to Florida,'" Nygard said.

"I spent all day loading the truck and getting it ready to leave, but then I talked to my neighbor Bob... he said you might want to wait a day or two because it's really hard getting out here, so I waited one more day, got some work done I needed to do in Minnesota and took off."

Back to Bokeelia

After 30 hours on the road, and a stop to pick up his son, Kahler, in Tampa, Nygard finally made it to Fort Myers on Oct. 5, ready to head to his house and help out with whatever he could.

That is until he was halted by local law enforcement from getting to D&D Marina, in Matlacha, where boats were lined up to take them and their truckload of supplies to Pine Island.

Undeterred, Nygard and his son persisted and drove up to Burnt Store Marina, where they initially caught a ride with a friend.

"There's a friend of ours who wanted to get across who has a house on Pine Island too ... he followed us around and we got up there and my friend just couldn't get his boats up there," Nygard said. "Some guy had pulled in bringing people over and I offered him gas if he can get us over to Bokeelia and he's like 'No problem.' He was coming back this way anyway, but that's what he needed was fuel and I brought 50 extra gallons of fuel down in the back of my truck among other things."

After bartering a boat ride, they were finally off to Bokeelia. Along the way, Nygard captured his journey on emerging series "I ain't afraid of no Hurricane Ian" on his Turbine Guy YouTube channel.

Documenting everything from debris and overturned boats to the effects of storm surge, Nygard gave his viewers a front row seat to what took place in Pine Island after the hurricane hit.

Getting close to his own neighborhood, he said he thought he had an idea of what to expect.

"I kind of expected to see this terrible, terrible damage when we got to Bokeelia and we saw some damage up there but in Hurricane Charley, Bokeelia got the worst of it. This time St. James City did," Nygard said. "The farther south we were, it seems the worse the damage got."

Finally, at 5 p.m. the same day they arrived, they got to their home on Judith Road. And to their surprise, they not only had very minimal damage but the power was running.

He said after inspecting and documenting all the slight damage, he said it made him happy to see how well the solar panels held up.

"I had numerous people telling me my solar panels are gonna end up in Cape Coral or wherever, but everything's up on the roof," Nygard said. "Just about everything except for small little stuff, all my solar renewable stuff survived one of the worst hurricanes ever just fine."

Becoming a community watchdog

Throughout his road trip and journey to get home, Nygard would post his videos to the "Pine Island Prospect" group on Facebook.

Just for fun, he says.

However, it quickly turned into something bigger.

"(I posted my videos saying) You know, 'Hey, I'm coming down to help out' or whatever and people saw that and they started reaching out to me and messaging me through Facebook or through my YouTube channel, asking me 'Can you check on my home?'" Nygard said. "So I have my friend next door actually do a couple of safety checks before we got here. And then we've done a few safety checks and a lot more property checks for people."

Nygard said dozens of people reached out throughout the county about doing free property checks. His son even purchased a drone to perform not only visual checks, but overhead roof and property inspections for Pine Island home owners.

And he's more than happy to do them, he added. He's said he's glad to give fellow residents a peace of mind.

"It's such a neat thing we can do in this modern age where someone's just come and run around and video (the home) or video something and upload it and boom, you can see it in no time," Nygard said. "It's one thing to talk to somebody on a phone. You know, your house looks good, but it's another to see the actual pictures."

He has also been videoing his venturing into the devastated community, filming other houses and shops he comes across while offering commentary to viewers on what he's seeing.

This has allowed him the opportunity to showcase his beloved community while the world is watching and give fellow residents a needed spotlight. He uses an example of spotting an opened Low Key Tiki in Saint James City.

"(The owner was) like, 'Oh yeah, I saw your videos just this morning, people sent me the link of this video.' She said it was just so great because other people are doing them but yours are great," Nygard said. "She got her husband and allowed me to do a quick video with her as a Low Key Tiki saying the bar is open."

On top of his videos, he's also is currently offering power to charge phones, tools and more at their home, as they have in previous hurricanes.

He said the residents have been extremely thankful for his posts and help. He added the residents really banded together to help one another since the storm as well.

"When a huge adversity like this hurricane comes through, it draws everybody together and everybody works together to get over it and the community becomes stronger and that's what I see happening," Nygard said.

Next Steps

Despite only having his channel for two years, Nygard has made an impact with his videos.

"When you have an opportunity to have people enjoy what you produce... I keep that in mind that I'm not filming for myself, I'm filming for what other people are gonna want to see," Nygard said.

He said he plans on staying in Bokeelia another week, planning to document more places on the island and pack up his house before heading back to Minnesota.

He also plans to check out Froggies Bar after learning they are reopening next week.

While he saw this storm coming, he knows other people didn't. If there's anything he learned from this storm, he said plans to push for more "do it yourself" content on his channel to help residents before a natural disaster, like Ian.

"I really want to push for people to be able to do that for themselves down here because if you can install your own (renewable energy system), you can save 30% or more," Nygard said. "It becomes affordable and I want to help empower the people of Pine Island to be prepared the next time it happens."

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Bokeelia man unexpectedly helps community with Youtube channel