To stay or go? Many Pine Islanders stay put as government ramps up post-Ian evacuations

A massive effort to evacuate residents still on Pine Island and Matlacha began in earnest Sunday with a coordinated operation that supplied departures by air, by sea and by land.

Those who left did so grudgingly, wondering how if so many resources could be marshaled to force them to leave, why couldn’t a similar amount be mustered to allow them to stay?

There are also plenty who plan to remain, defiant in the face of dire warnings that life is unsustainable.

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“There’s only one way they’re getting me off this island and that’s by dragging my dead carcass out of here,” said Bokeelia resident Damian Minko Jr., 43.

The scene around Pine Island and Matlacha was dystopian, tropical but mangled. Palm fronds waved in gulf breezes while colorful cottages that once charmed now looked like piles of ginormous toothpicks. Power poles and furniture swept from homes blocked roadways. Yet other homes were just fine.

Pine Island and Matlacha are among the collection of islands that make up coastal Lee County, between Sanibel Island and Cape Coral.

Emergency responders were not forcing residents to leave Sunday. But Pine Islanders expressed frustration that state and federal officials were not providing resources to allow those with homes that experienced little to no damage to remain.

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Instead it’s been left to a fleet of personal boat owners, loading their crafts to unsafe levels with thousands of pounds of food, water, gas and other necessities, making runs from the mainland in an effort to keep Pine Island alive.

“Everybody has generators out here,” Minko Jr. said. “If they’re not going to be bringing in supplies, it’s almost like they’re trying to starve the people out.

“All we need is gas and probably water too,” said DJ Ruscik, a community leader who met a private boat bringing in resources. She loaded empty gas cans into the back of a pick-up. “For them to come out and say, ‘Don’t stay.’ Don’t tell me what to do.”

Many residents felt like their homes, their cars, their jobs, their belongings and their way of life would be threatened if they evacuated. They worried about looting.

“They want to get rid of all of us and turn this into a rich people’s paradise,” said John Bauer, 70, who has lived on Pine Island 22 years. “It’s a fishing village. We’d like to keep it the way it was. There ain’t much of old Florida left and this was a tiny speck of it.”

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But access to Pine Island and Matlacha is a problem.

Hurricane Ian created multiple breaks in the stretch of Pine Island Road that runs through the heart of Matlacha, isolating Pine Island from the mainland and hampering the ability to quickly bring in critical supplies like food, water and gasoline.

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Steve Honc, the CEO of St. James City-based Honc Industries, spent the days leading up to Sunday’s evacuation operation calling every state and local elected official he could to tell them his company could begin working to fix the road Monday and could have it ready to be reopened in days.

The overriding message was to stand down until receiving permission from a government official who had the power to grant it. It was never made clear to Honc who that elusive person was.

By Sunday morning, Honc said he was done waiting for permission.

“We’re starting tomorrow, whether we get permission or not.”

A few hours later Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he was directing the Florida Department of Transportation to expedite emergency repairs that would allow first responders and motorists to access to Pine Island by Saturday, Oct. 8. That would dramatically speed up other recovery efforts such as power restoration and debris removal.

Honc said Monday his company will be helping the FDOT with the trucking, material and staging for the project.

“Governor DeSantis signed the executive order because of all the pushing we did at the state level,” he said. “County and federal was not going to help at all.”

The FDOT press release said the repairs would give residents access too. It was yet to be seen how that would impact evacuation efforts.

More than a dozen Pine Island residents who gathered Sunday to protest evacuation warmly greeted a bridge crew assessing damage to the buckled roadway over Matlacha Pass. Many residents were Spanish-speaking landscapers and nursery workers who worried about the lack of housing and income off-island. The protest never fully materialized but seeing the bridge crew brought hope.

Irma Perez, 48, was there with several members of her family. She counts about 40 members of her extended family on Pine Island. Her husband owns a nursery and landscaping business. She worried about leaving the business they had built behind.

“La vida de nosotros está acá,”  said Perez. Our life is here.

Pine Island residents angry, uncertain over evacuation plan

On Sunday, residents arrived at the Matlacha-Pine Island Fire Department’s Station One loaded with carry-on bags, meowing cats and gnawing uncertainty. Dozens of geared-up volunteer and government rescuers milled around the small station.

Anita Skinner, 75, tossed out questions at the check-in table for evacuees. They couldn't tell her how long they'd be evacuating people but they could tell her that they weren't getting or giving supplies at that time.

For people like Skinner, who did not want to evacuate, this was scary news.

“I just can’t believe they left us stranded out here,” she said.

She feels like the president and the federal government are to blame. One feeling that rippled through the community Sunday was: Are they treating Sanibel Island like this?

According to the Census, among the 8,400 residents in Pine Island and nearby communities, the median household income is about $53,000. Sanibel’s median household income is about $92,000.

Tears welled in residents’ eyes as they tried to figure out how quickly they could pack up their lives or, in 63-year-old Vickie Miller’s case, her life and the two people in their 80s that she helps as a Hospice caregiver.

“We’ve got to have enough supplies until we can evacuate. That’s all. We’re not trying to stay here but we’re leaving our whole lives,” Miller said.

At one point, Dr. Benjamin Abo, medical director for the island's fire district, addressed the unease growing among residents. “We are not abandoning you but our priorities are search, rescue and evacuation so we can’t prioritize bringing you supplies. We’re trying to help people get rescued and help you evacuate. So that’s the message to spread.”

His message was met with applause. Abo said eventually people could return but he couldn’t say when. Among those waiting in the station for a ride to the docks were Billy Van Deusen and his wife Joyce have been married for 32 years, the last 22 of which they’ve spent in their Pine Island home.

“We realize that with the road being out, it’s going to be almost impossible to stay,” he said. “If people don’t leave, they’re going to be in trouble.”

Billy said the couple felt safe remaining on the island during the storm because their home is fortified to withstand hurricane-force winds. “The house looks like it never went through a storm.”

The Van Deusens said their last stop will be Ocala where they plan to stay with Joyce’s nephew and then try to find their own accommodations, depending upon how long it takes to return. The news about the expedited effort to repair the road, which came after the Van Deusens departed, may hasten their return or, if it was announced earlier, may have eliminated their choice to leave in the first place.

Once enough evacuees gathered, trucks ferried them and their belongings to the shell that was left of the Yucatan Waterfront Bar & Grill, the kind of spot that can make a meal feel like a vacation.

Emergency responders and volunteers carried islander’s bags and pet crates over sand to a dock, where government and private vessels awaited them.

A group of men carried 67-year-old Suzanne Tomlinson in a wheelchair over the sand and to the dock. She had broken her leg and hip before the storm, said her husband Larry, 78. “I’ve been taking care of her. It’s like the blind leading the blind.”

As they boarded a boat, he didn't know exactly where they would end up on the mainland. “We’re going somewhere in the United States, that is hopefully conservative.”

Evacuation leads to difficult decisions about lifetime mementos

One of the hardest parts of leaving behind a life is deciding what to take with you. In many cases, Ian made that decision.

Tammey Lynch had scribbled a list of requests from her 16-year-old daughter Savannah. Memory box. Converse. Wallet. Books. 1. Outsiders. 2. All the Bright Places.

Savannah was staying with a friend while Tammey and her husband John sorted through their waterfront home Sunday afternoon. The structure was still standing but muck covered their floor.

They were also trying to figure out what they could salvage from their Matlacha restaurant Blue Dog Bar & Grill.

But it was too early to decide much of anything about the future, said John.  “I have no idea. I know where I’m sleeping tonight and after that I have no clue.”

The couple knew they didn’t want to uproot Savannah from her high school but also that it would be difficult to find a rental given the tight and unaffordable rental market that Southwest Florida was already facing before Ian.

For Tammey, it was hard to pick and choose what to take. She knew she would take two clay hummingbirds her father gave her. Family photos. But that day they planned to release the two pet turtles that had been staying with them since Hurricane Irma.

Margie Miller, 53, salvaged her son’s ashes from her mucked-up Matlacha home. She had kept them in a biodegradable turtle container that she planned to release soon. "It was swimming and had mold and everything on it." She transferred his ashes to a purse that on Sunday was in the back of her trunk.

"It was hard to walk back in there and all those memories and all the pictures everywhere. You’re alive, you’re well but my whole life is in that house,” she said, tearing up. “Where will I go? What am I going to do?”

Connect with these reporters at ddeluca@gannett.com and jzeitlin@gannett.com. 

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Pine Island residents stay put as Hurricane Ian evacuations ramp up