'We can do better:' Cape Coral residents want $1.1 billion used to improve major storm preparation
More than seven months after Hurricane Ian hit Southwest Florida, Cape Coral residents and officials want to learn from setbacks the city faced after the storm to prepare and plan for the future.
"There were just a lot of broken pieces, and I'm not complaining, it was a big storm, but we can do better," said Cape Coral resident Paul Jensen said.
Lee County has been awarded a $1.1 billion community development block grant by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for resilience programs and rebuilding. The Lee County Recovery Task Force will help advise on how the money will be used.
Cape Coral hosted a ResilientLee Town Hall where residents gave input on how county leadership will spend the hurricane funds.
Throughout the event, residents were asked questions on what they wanted to see improved.
Many of the city's residents endured weeks of no power, using generators to power their homes or wells, days without city water, no internet, and trouble finding information on where to get resources and food.
Jensen, 62, is a northwest Cape Coral resident.
"I'm well aware of this stuff going on, and if you don't get involved with it, you're going to be in a world of hurt," he said.
As an attendee, he was given stickers to vote on posters for things he'd like to see improved.
He said he wanted to see the task force focus on preserving and hardening critical infrastructure, natural resources, and post-storm economic recovery.
Other popular suggestions included addressing housing, increasing skilled workers to fill jobs in Lee County, and improving infrastructure.
Jensen remembers those few days after Hurricane Ian hit Cape Coral and how hard it was to get accurate information without power and the internet.
He said water and food centers shut down because no one was using them but said many residents were unaware of where to go to.
"I know they had places you can drive to, but with limited fuel, which was hard to get, then it was hard to drive somewhere to go where there was internet so you can get information," Jensen said.
He said Cape Coral can do better and help get residents more immediate help.
ResilientLee
The Lee County Recovery Task Force was formed as a committee of Lee County leaders, such as mayors and school board, fire, and law enforcement representatives, to advise the county commission on hurricane recovery and rebuilding.
ResilientLee, the task force's public engagement effort, holds meetings countywide to allow residents to learn about the Lee County Recovery Task Force and provide input based on their experience.
The goal is to study needs after Ian, engage partners to address identified needs, and develop viable solutions.
Wednesday's session at the council chamber saw residents learning more about the task force, Lee County's recovery process, the recently awarded grants from the federal government, and ways residents can provide input on those funds.
Over 30 people were in attendance.
Tanya Shannon, deputy director of recovery at Hagerty Consulting, and Terry Mazany, chief collaboration officer at Collaboratory were presenting the information.
A majority of the funds, 70%, will benefit low and moderate-income areas for repairing homes, and building new affordable housing.
There was no clarification on how much grant funding Cape Coral will receive.
Jensen said he hopes Cape Coral gets a fair share of the fund.
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Cape Fire Chief speaks
Cape Coral Fire Chief Ryan Lamb said the city is addressing gaps that were exposed by Hurricane Ian.
"We know that there's a shelter gap in our county, and specifically in our Cape Coral community; some of our road infrastructure, bridges, water utility system, all need either hardening, improvements, or (other) things that we just don't have," Lamb said.
He said Hurricane Ian is the largest disaster the city has faced, and it will take years to recover, but the city will be constantly improving to prepare for the next big storm.
Hurricane Ian, a Category 5 storm, hit Cape Coral hard with flooding in the south part of the city, wind gusts of 140 mph, and damage to nearly all structures, including severe damage to the beloved Cape Coral Yacht Club.
Ian’s total cost to the city is $86 million -- $54 million for debris removal, $22 million for emergency protective measures, and $10 million for parks, roads, buildings, equipment, and administrative fees.
"This is the largest disaster in our city, so it's going to impact our community for years to come. Even the grants and the dollars that our community is going to be receiving, that's not going to be an immediate (solution) to a lot of these problems," Lamb said
"I don't think there's any community that is 100% prepared across the board for every natural disaster; every situation we get into we see things that present different gaps, but our goal is to try and close those gaps and not have some of those same things repeat," he added.
To learn more about ReslientLee, go to https://www.resilientlee.com/
Future ResilientLee town hall meetings:
May 16, 6-8 p.m. Virtual via Zoom
May 17, 4–6 p.m. Boca Grande Community Center
May 24, 6-8 p.m. Dunbar High School
Luis Zambrano is a Watchdog/Cape Coral reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. You can reach Luis at Lzambrano@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @Lz2official.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hurricane Ian: SWFL residents want better disaster preparation
