FORT MYERS, Fla. – Agusto “Kiko” and Julia “Gordie” Villalon returned to Pine Island after fleeing Hurricane Ian, leaving just as the slow-moving storm’s winds and rain began to batter the island. Almost a week later, they were on a boat back to their mobile home.
They weren’t sure what they would find, they weren’t even sure their house would be there.
Many who evacuated Cape Coral, Matlacha and Pine Island are returning to check on their homes. Not all come back to stay: some homes are unlivable right now or can’t meet the needs of their owners, many of whom are elderly or disabled adults.
More than a week ago, Hurricane Ian hit Pine Island, a vulnerable coastal community of blue-collar workers and retired seniors. At 155 miles per hour, its 60-mile-wide eyewall sat just off the southwest Florida coast for hours, battering the area with wind, rain and storm surge until it tore through roofs and walls , break wooden telephone poles and drop the ship. blocks from where they had been anchored, and floating cars and mobile homes.
Pine Island is about 40 square miles and is home to only about 8,500 people, according to the census. The median household income is about $53,000.
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The islanders lend a helping hand
On Pine Island, islanders have been pulling together and helping each other navigate how to get home and how to get help.
Kevin and Jennifer Russell, who run the popular “Things to Do on Pine Island” Facebook page, said that while there were many willing hands, volunteers were often turned away by Lee County Sheriff’s deputies or the Guard coastal Some were even threatened with arrest, said Jennifer Leatherman-Toby, executive director of the nonprofit United Cajun Navy.
“The system just failed us,” Kevin Russell said. “We’ve been alone.”
They added that anyone returning to Pine Island to check on their home should not post their address or photos online, in case looters are checking social media pages for places they know are empty and where they can to steal.
“They know we’re hurting and we know they’re going to take advantage of us,” Russell said.
Nine people have been arrested for looting across the county, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said at a news conference Thursday. It is not clear if there were any on Pine Island.
“All you want to do now is evaluate,” Kevin Russell said. “If you’re really in a good position, rate it and help everyone else,” added Jennifer Russell.
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“We won’t find much”
Gordie and Kiko caught a ride with Jordyn Tantum and Lazaro “Laz” Ulpion, friends in the boating community. Although the Villalons were at least 40 years older than Tantum and Ulpion, they were easy in each other’s company.
“All his life is just boats, boats, boats, boats, boats,” Ulpion said, pointing to each “boats” with a nod.
All the way Gordie decidedly talked about boats, avoiding the subject of his home. She had learned to sail as a child growing up in Rhode Island, thanks to her father, who served in the Navy. He has kept it all his life. She talked about how she and Kiko used to sail their sailboat up the coast to Maine and spend the summers there.
“It was a long, narrow, fast sailboat,” Gordie recalled. “11 ft. beam, 56 ft. in all, 72 ft. wooden mast, a 9 ft. keel.”
Kiko talked about his Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Havana, his career as a shipbuilder in Cuba, he emigrated from Cuba to the US in the face of Fidel Castro’s takeover of the country and his first job in the US: as cow inseminator in northern Arkansas during one of the Rockefellers.
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“I was the boss…” He mimed pulling his rubber gloves up above his elbows and laughed. “Inseminator”.
Later, he said, he moved to Cape Coral, Fla., and started Marine Concepts, a boat design, engineering and tooling company. He sold the business in 1994 and retired, although he now shows up occasionally as a boat insurance claims adjuster.
Unsure of what’s left
But beneath the stories was tension and desperation for distraction. They were both worried about what they might find in their home. Was he still standing? Had it flooded? Had looters come through, as often happens after hurricanes?
“We won’t find much,” Gordie predicted.
Gordie, who grew up in New England, where hurricanes are common, was horrified that many did not leave the island. She and Kiko evacuated Tuesday afternoon.
“Hurricanes are so rare in recent years that people have no idea of the power of wind and water,” he said, as the boat entered the channel that would take him home. “And they don’t heed the warnings. If they say download it!
When they evacuated, they took very little with them other than their clothes, and a stuffed bunny named Big Bunny that Gordie kept in her purse. She has had “Big” as she called him for about 40 years and kept him safe for her granddaughter.
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“It’s the talisman,” she laughed. “You can’t do anything without him.”
Some people go back to check on their homes and come back if they find they can survive for the time being.
Jay Johnson, owner of Bubba’s Roadhouse, said he’s seen a fair amount of traffic on the waterways around Pine Island and Matlacha in recent days.
“Everybody is pretty much in shock and just trying to figure out where they’re going to go from here,” he said. “The most important thing about Pine Island and Matlacha is that they are islanders. They take pride in taking care of themselves and rebuilding and building their best lives. And I know they will now.”
Everything that can be saved
When they approached their house, the Villalons had fallen silent.
They were very worried that their house was not standing. Gordie wasn’t sure what they were getting into, and she wasn’t optimistic. Someone had sent them pictures of her house and she wasn’t sure anything could be saved; he was reluctant to even enter.
“I don’t want to see what’s left,” he said, picking up pieces of broken glass and checking various plants around his house while Ulpion and Kiko worked with a knife, a screwdriver, and the key to get into the front door. . The wind and rain had blown the door shut and it was stuck.
Once they opened the door, however, they discovered that it was generally not as bad as they had feared.
A window had blown outwards—perhaps due to the barometric pressure—and his roof had leaked rainwater into several parts of his home. Some of his furniture was wet: a picture and anything on the floor, including a goose-shaped lamp that Gordie called his night light, and dozens of books. But generally their belongings were where they had left them.
Still, the documentation and decision-making process was overwhelming at times for Kiko and Gordie.
They approached the comeback differently. Kiko, thanks to his years as a claims adjuster, wanted to take extensive photos and notes before making any decisions. Gordie only wanted to rescue her most sentimental objects: a painting her granddaughter made for her; an award Kiko had received; some books his father had written.
Sometimes they got stuck, natural tension resulting from a devastating and overwhelming situation. But through it all, they were there for each other. Gordie almost exclusively referred to Kiko as “my love” and every time he called him, Kiko would come to his side.
Collecting treasures, and a toast
While Gordie created a pile of treasures he couldn’t bear to leave behind, Kiko took a quiet moment to mourn the loss of not only his belongings, but the memories that came with them.
“Now when you look at things that are 60 or 70 years old with me, I can’t tell you it feels good,” Kiko said, starting to cry. “Not good.” He let out a heavy breath.
Still, they had something to fall back on. Somewhere to start.
His house amazes me, Tantum thought as he took a quick break after working with Ulpion to nail boards over the broken window. “The history here, for the people who have been here 30, 40, 50 years.”
It had to be hard to deal with all the uncertainty, he said.
Kiko celebrated the return home with a bottle of wine and toasted the friends who helped them along the way, including Ulpion and Tantum.
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“One thing I can’t stop talking about [about] is how friends have responded.”
He has had people from Spain, Paris and all over the US calling and offering help. A friend even offered to drive his RV to Pine Island and park it in Kiko’s driveway so the couple would have a place to stay while they got their house back in order.
“I feel good,” Kiko said in Spanish, adding that he was counting his blessings. “We will recover everything that can be saved.”
