Hurricane Irma: Bonita Springs, Estero survey storm damage

Though Hurricane Irma was not the Category 5 storm that had been forecast as a possibility for Florida, her fury has altered lives throughout south Lee County.

Much of the homes in Tahiti Mobile Village off of Broadway Avenue withstood the high wind gusts Hurricane Irma threw at Estero.

Some homes were not so lucky.

A destroyed wall and missing roof in one home exposed a wall clock and bathroom.

Sheets of aluminum shuddered in the breeze as Lloyd Sawyer and Mickey Colantell poked through the home's wreckage.

“Our friend — he evacuated up to Jacksonville — sent us here to check up on his house,” Sawyer said. “I expected to be bad, but this is something else.”

A pickup bed contained all that was left of Joe Simone’s home belongings.

“You can’t fix this,” Colantell said. “We’re going to start tearing it down. We need to get a chainsaw.”

Fallen trees and downed power lines were the main problems in many Bonita Springs neighborhoods. Debilitating floods and destroyed homes were the exceptions.

The Chews had felt safe from Hurricane Irma in their shuttered concrete home in Bonita Springs.

Outside, the storm's winds pushed backyard palms closer and closer to the ground. They eventually collapsed with a "boom." 

Minutes later, a neighbor pounded on the front door, seeking shelter.

“The tree broke through their roof,” Darby Chew said. “Rain was pouring in.”

Hurricane Irma's winds died down Sunday evening, and the family went to bed.

“We thought the storm was done after the winds stopped,” Chew said. “We don’t usually flood.”

Monday afternoon, Chew watched his children splash in rising flood water feet from his front door.                                                                                                           

Water once flowing through the Imperial River now filled roadways. Storm water from inland rushed to the Gulf of Mexico, overloading the system.

A major storm earlier this month dumped more than 15 inches of rain in the area in three days, raising the Imperial River above its banks and into homes in the Quinn Street area.

Streets dry for less than a week were struck by Hurricane Irma’s water. Intersections flooded knee high weeks ago now had water that reached above an adult person's waist.

Chew’s house stood across the street from the previous flood zone. He hadn’t considered water to be a big threat.

As waters began to rise, the family tried to keep their home from flooding. Impromptu sandbags failed to keep the garage dry while water inched closer to the front door.

“Watching this water go up and up is the worst part,” he said.

Water bubbling up from storm water drains added to Imperial River runoff, further raising the flood level.

Kelvin and Bobbi Hays said the water was too high. The couple and their dog, Marley, sat on a sidewalk watching their home.

“We have 3 to 4 inches in the outer rooms,” Kelvin Hayes said. “The middle has 1/8 of an inch. If it gets any higher ... I don’t know.”

Pet birds fill their house, so they decided a going to a shelter wasn’t possible. They decided to wait out the storm in their wooden home.

“I’ll never do that again,” Bobbi Hays said. “We heard our house cracking, and we didn’t know what would go first.”

The flood-susceptible Sherrill Lane in Estero again filled with water — nothing new to resident Juan Meneses.

“It floods during a rain storm,” Meneses said. “Nobody is here to help. Nobody is trying to stop it.”

Meneses returned from Germain Arena, which was opened as a public shelter, to find fallen trees blocking the flooded streets.

A skid loader quickly cleared the roadway. He was clearing debris from around his home on Monday.

“I need to move in a couple of months,” Meneses said. “When it floods, my kids can’t get to school. I don’t want to leave, but (the flooding) is making me leave.”

Downed trees and flooding were the biggest issues in San Carlos Park Monday.

By early evening, many of the community’s main roads and some entire neighborhoods were still under a foot of water. A “No Wake” sign was erected in the middle of Lee Road.

All stations in the Bonita Springs Fire and Rescue District survived the storm unharmed except Station 24 on Bonita Grande Drive.

Members of the Bonita Springs city government and leadership from the Bonita Springs, Estero and San Carlos fire districts huddled in the building as the roof took light damage.

The chief and assistant chief said they were anxious to assess damage in their city, leaving Monday at midnight to have a first look at Hurricane Irma’s effects.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” Assistant Chief Greg DeWitt said. “It could have been so much worse.”

Crews left stations at first light, dispatched to susceptible communities and mobile home parks.

“Our first priority is life safety,” Chief Joe Daigle said. “We want to get to anyone that is critically hurt, clear access roads and determine what areas are flooded.”