Judy: When hurricane Ian hit the
U.S. It was merely a category
five storm and one of the
strongest to ever make landfall
in this country.
In the aftermath, housing is an
urgent problem and hundreds of
thousands of households have
applied for federal assistance,
but there are big challenges
around rebuilding and questions
about the wisdom of doing so
along parts of the coast.
We have the report from fort
Myers beach, Florida.
>> One month after hurricane Ian
ripped through southwest
Florida, communities here face
wildly different realities.
Some streets and homes appear
mostly untouched.
Others are unrecognizable.
Mangled roadways and entire
blocks filled with debris.
Homes ripped to pieces inside
and out.
The terrifying hours of Ian's
landfall are still fresh on the
minds of many.
>> You jumped out the window and
you are swimming?
>> Yeah.
>> They live in the hard-hit low
income mostly hispanic area of
Harlem heights outside of fort
Myers.
Their family initially tried to
write out the storm.
Then it began to rise to their
ankles, their knees, and to the
waist.
>> We started to swim all the
way to the park and the
backyard.
>> You were swimming across your
own yard?
>> Yeah.
>> In the morning when they came
home, everything was ruined.
>> All of your belongings are
gone.
>> Yeah.
>> They don't have insurance.
The restaurant was destroyed.
The family is staying with
friends for now and another
friend is helping with --
helping with home repairs.
>> May be sleeping in the park.
>> I'm really sorry.
>> No good.
I'm sorry.
This is a big problem.
And I don't know about my house.
>> Ian exacerbated what was an
already dire housing crisis.
Daniel cruises with Florida
rural legal services.
>> There is not affordable
housing available.
We are not just talking about
individuals in public housing,
I'm talking about affordable
housing for a working-class
individual.
What would have been a difficult
situation is becoming a
catastrophe.
>> The official death toll
stands at over 100.
Hundreds of people remain in
shelters and thousands are still
without power.
Total damage estimates are in
the tens of billions of dollars.
On fort Myers beach which is
near ground zero of the storm,
the calm waters of the gulf
stand in stark contrast to the
apocalyptic scenes on shore.
This island community suffered a
devastating blow from Ian.
At least 14 people were on fort
Myers beach.
Even the larger modern
structures took a punch.
But many smaller older homes
were pulverized.
So your house stood here and
here.
And where is it now?
>> I found a little section
overall.
Mostly down the block.
Portions of it are two blocks
down, almost in the bay.
I imagine some of it is in the
water.
>> The water was this high?
>> Over our head by a few feet.
>> Bill lost almost his entire
90-year-old house.
He and his wife have lived here
for more than a decade.
>> A lot of people are very
upset.
Personally being involved in it,
I'm amazed at how fast things
are working but I think that now
is a very difficult time for
people emotionally because this
is where people are coming to
the realization of what is next.
>> Further inland, while the
destruction isn't quite as
severe, residents are struggling
with an uncertain future.
>> What is our next step here?
>> Charles Manson lives in north
fort Myers mobile home village.
He has made countless phone
calls to his insurance company
but still hasn't had an adjuster
visit.
It looks like the whole skin of
your house came off.
>> The surface of his roof was
shorn off by Ian's wind.
>> I don't know what the costs
are going to be.
I would just like to get started
so that I can contact some
contractors or get some repairs
made.
>> There's the physical loss but
Charles lost something far more
dear right before Ian made
landfall.
>> About three or four days
before the hurricane, my wife
passed away.
She was sick for a while.
Basically was taking care of her
for about 15 months.
So not a good time.
>> Because of the storm he spent
more than a week not knowing
what happened to his wife's
remains.
>> Are you doing ok?
>> He is visited a few times a
week by a meals on wheels
volunteer for the fort Myers
nonprofit community cooperative.
Kathy says Charles is one of
many floridians whose lives were
damaged, shaken, or lost by the
storm.
People who are now left trying
to pick up the pieces.
>> All of those people our lives
and families and coworkers and
friends.
And it is sad.
But we will get through this.
And there's a lot of people here
to help, but it won't be one and
done because I've never seen
anything like this in my life.
>> The official death toll sits
at 118 lives lost, but many
people believe that that number
will go much higher.
In direct deaths or people who
died subsequent to the storm
like when the power was out and
their oxygen monitor went down
or someone has a heart attack
cleaning up debris.
People think once that number is
truly known, the death toll here
could go easily into the
thousands.
>> William, we saw in your piece
the elderly man struggling with
his insurance company.
That has to be an enormous
headache for so many homeowners.
>> It is a huge problem and even
though there is an army of
insurance adjusters across the
state, the demand is so high
that people are frustrated like
we saw from that gentleman.
The bigger issue is the issue of
cost.
The insurance rates in Florida
are as expensive as they are
anywhere in the country and not
just because of the storms that
keep coming through here but
because of fraud and abuse in
the system.
The issue with insurance, there
is a larger more existential
question here, how do you ensure
people when you never know when
the next storm is going to come?
Climate change is going to keep
coming.
How do you equitably ensure
people?
The private insurance industry
has looked at this market and
said thanks, but no thanks.
That leaves largely the federal
government or the state
government running their own
insurance programs.
But those programs are either in
serious financial jeopardy or
heading for a financial cliff.
So it is a very thorny public
policy issue.
>> It raises another question,
given the price hikes you just
described, the inevitability of
big storms in the future, is
anybody talking about leaving
Florida?
>> We have asked everyone we
have talked to that question.
And to a person, nobody is
leaving.
People who love Florida love
Florida.
That is what is keeping them
around here.
The bigger question is, does it
make sense for the government to
be encouraging people and
signaling to people that it is
ok to stay here?
Every time these roads are
cleaned and new power lines are
strung up and sewer systems put
in, the government is saying it
is ok to live here and rebuild.
As climate change intensifies,
there is a potential steady
parade of monster storms coming
from the gulf right over there.
How do you allow that process to
go forward?
I asked the local councilman and
he said better building codes is
the solution.
There are houses that took a
direct hit.
The problem is, to build your
house up high and build it like
a fortress costs a lot of money.
The wealthy can afford to do
that and can come here and build
whereas the poor residents of
the community cannot.
So that kind of progress
fundamentally changes a
community and many researchers
who study the process of how we
build or not build in vulnerable
areas say that this process
which is seemingly favoring
wealthy people is not a smart
way to go about it.
That we have to find a better
way to figure out how and where
we allow people to live in
vulnerable places.
It by no means will be a settled
issue.
Judy: Tough decisions to be made
in the months and years to come.