Billy cunning Won the Great American. Of course, Southwest Florida is under a terrible condition because of Hurricane Milton, happening almost as we speak. Joining you and I now is the Mayor of Fort Myer's Speech, the honorable Dan Allers and Dan Allers, Welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. I think we did this a couple of years ago with another Hurricane Ian. Can you tell us as we sit here this Wednesday afternoon, as the leader of Fort Myer's Speech, what is happening now as we speak.
Well, we're just starting to see the first effects of the storm. We've got some pretty good wind and some pretty good rain, but it hasn't gotten to us yet. But we're going to be expecting some serious surge. Nothing as high as e Ian, hopefully, but somewhere in the eight to twelve ranges what they're predicting.
Now, let's go back a little bit in time. When I had you on two years ago with Ian, it was a terrible circumstance from Fort Myers Beach, Santa Bell in fact, even for Mars itself. Can you describe to the American people what you went through two years ago with Ian?
Then?
We're going to talk about Helene and now Milton. So what happened two years ago that you hope is not repeated.
Well two years ago, you know when when Ian hit. Obviously that was about fifteen feet of storm surge. It was something that you know, nobody had really ever seen down here. It took out obviously, all our businesses, homes. There wasn't a structure on the island that wasn't affected from it. We took about a year to get most of that cleaned up and off the island and then
we could start the rebuild. We've actually been making a lot of headway with getting homes built and people back in their houses and businesses being open, and then we've had this will be the fourth storm since Hurricaneian, so we're up to five now. This one is obviously as close to Ian. The other ones were water events, but this one is erily similar to what Ian was. Hopefully it's not as bad, but you know, we're going to
see a little bit different. You know, every storms different, but this one I think is going to move a little more inland on the island than the last one since a lot of the structures are not there.
And I know from our previous interview that you were born and raised in Minnesota, not exactly a place where hurricanes often happen. Are you questioning your decision to move from Minnesota to Fort Myers Beach?
Not at all, Not at all. I mean, you know, the thing between you know, a hurricane and a tornado is at least a hurricane you see it coming from a long ways away and you have time to prepare and get to safety. You know, a tornado, you don't have anything. And that's something that we're going through now. The outer bands were starting to get tornado warnings and we've had a couple of touchdowns in the mid middle of the state, Okachobee area. So no, I wouldn't change it.
You know this one. We're a little bit smarter. My wife and I stayed on the island last time. This time we're evacuating, and I just got done going through the island, and I would say the greatest, I'd say ninety nine percent of our residents have left. We do have a few people that absolutely refuse to leave, but nothing like we saw with Ian.
And Mayor Olurs of Fort Myer's speech. If those residents refuse to leave, do you do you handcuff them them, lock them up? What do you do?
No, Unfortunately we can't go into their house and drag them out of there, but they they you know, we just try to get the message to them that every person that stays as a potential person that we're going to have to search for and rescue after, which is going to delay people getting back onto their island, onto the island, into their homes and and start the rebuilding. So I think people are you know, it's still fresh.
Ian still fresh in their mind, and most of heated the warnings that got off the island, which is which is good. It's it's like a ghost town down here. There's there's really nobody around.
I know from the last time. You actually live on Fort Myer's Beach, as the mayor described the American people when Ian hit them four cents, but Ian was the bad one. How was your home effected? How did you recover.
Our home? We were fortunate were on one of the higher streets on the island, so we took about five and a half six feet inside our house, so the structure survived. Obviously everything inside had to be gutted. Many were not that fortunate. You know, they have to start from cleaning up the entire remnants of everything that they had and then you know, building again, and some have gotten back in. We were fortunate, we were able to
just gut the inside. We lost all of our belongings like everyone else in our cars, but our structures survived, so we were one of the fortunate. We were able to get back in about a year eighteen months for the storm, so we haven't been back in all that long. And you know, I just left the house about an hour ago for the last time. And it's a very eerie feeling looking at your house, realizing that maybe last time you're ever going to see it.
And as far as you've had four since Milton, this is a bad one. If Milton is the same or worse than me, and what happens long term to Fort Myers Beach.
Yeah, the good thing is just you know, it's an island of doers. We're people that don't give up easy. Most of us are Midwesterners, and as you well know, Midwesterners are kind of stubborn people. We don't give up
too easy. There's no doubt this is going to break some people's will, but we'll see, you know, try to hope for the best and plan for the worst, but we won't know until tomorrow afternoon kind of what we're what we're dealing with, and hopefully it's a lot less than what we're expecting.
And Mayor Dan Allers of Fort Myers speech, what are you being told by the authorities when Milton will have its worse effect on Fort Myer's speech? And Santa Belle and Fort Myers. What time tonight or tomorrow are we looking at.
We're looking at right around two am, so it's going to be the middle of the night storm that we'll probably see our peak surge. So by tomorrow morning we'll have a when the sun comes up, we're going to have the president under the tree, if you will, what we're going to be dealing with. But like I said, we're starting to see the if you watch the maps, and you watching the weather as we're speaking, and it's
massive economy almost not even see four. There's so much white over the top of it's pulling in a lot of energy, so it doesn't look good. But there's still time to hope for the best. I guess that's all I could keep saying.
And Mayor what about the high tide and the load tide. I know you're on top of that. As far as Fort Myers, Fort Myers Beach, Santa Bell one is low tide, one is high tide. And how does that impact the flooding?
Well, obviously high tide is not ideal for us. I think high tides around four am. I were just told so two am four am is pretty close will be an incoming tide. It's not a huge tide, and we're getting quite a bit of rain, so it's kind of offsets itself. But you know, one foot here or there, when you're talking twelve feet of storm surge, it's it's it's it's not as relevant as if you're talking two or three feet.
So if there's twelve feet of storm surge on Fort Myers Beach, the entire island will be underwater.
Correct, Yes, that will be not a structure that doesn't have water in it.
And then the recovery begins. And you gone through this beginning with Ian three other times and none as bad as Ian or I pray to God not Milton. But is there a fatigue setting in? I had some real estate agent told me and I have a home down in Naples, that there's a fatigue factor setting in. Have you sense fatigued by the residence of Fort Myers speech, You're tough, you're mean, you're nasty, you want to get
up and fight like a warrior, Poe. But is there a sense that many residents are simply going to give up.
I don't think there's a sense of people going to give up, but you know, to answer your your initial question, yeah, there's definitely fatigue. People are tired. You know, it's been along two years of rebuilding, has been a long two years of crying and blood and sweat and tears, and to see that all that work could be gone here again in the next twelve hours. Yeah, it's mental fatigue for sure. It's not physical fatigue as much as mental. But you know, we won't know what We don't know
until tomorrow and see what we're dealing with. As I said earlier, you know, I think this surge is going to move a little more inland on our island and and affects some people that maybe were safe during Ian, that had the protection of some of the structures that took the blunt of it. So it's going to be a different wave of people that have a different, you know, different degree of damage.
And lastly, isn't this isn't this unusual because people say, well, why do you live in Florida? But is it fair to say that before Ian whether it's Fort Myers Beach or Saraceta or Naples, whatever it might be, this the last two years have been terribly unusual.
It is I was talking to someone that has been on the island for close to fifty years and she was telling me how it's it's, you know, for most of us that are are fairly new here, the transplants from the Midwest, you know, this is very unusual. But she said, it's almost it's almost like bell bottoms and mullets.
You know. It goes in cycles. Every twenty years. They remember twenty years ago there was three or four or five storms that kind of came back to back, and then you get twenty years where you don't have anything and then come back around. And her analogy was this is just another one of the cycles.
Hopefully this is the end of the cycle, because there's only so much, you know, mind can only comprehend with the butt can bear. And at some point it's like, well, Dan, you're a great American from Minnesota, tough as nails, and I'm glad you're in charge of Fort Myer's Beach and maybe we'll check in with you in a day or two to see the results. But a hunker down, get ready, say a prayer, and then we rebuild, and then we move on as Americans who never stop. We don't we reload,
we don't stop. We reload and keep on going. But Dan Aller's the mayor of Fort Myer's speech this Wednesday afternoon, thank you for coming on the Bill Cunningham Show. We'll check in with you in a day or two and hold on. And God bless you, Dan, God bless you.
Yep, thank you, Thanks Bill, thanks for having me. Thank you.
Well, let's continue with more. There. It is Dan Allers. He is the mayor of Fort Myer's Beach. They're saying it's going to be a twelve foot surge and the highest point of Fort Myers Beach is about five feet above the Gulf of Mexico and that's a disaster. Head On top of that, the high tide is supposed to be at four am, and it builds between four pm and four am slowly, and it's supposed to hit at two am, and so it's going to be nearly high tide.
Thank god it's not a full moon. And they're predicting ten to fifteen foot waves over the top of Fort Myers Beach and Santa Bell Longboat Key's going to be affected and so many other parts. It puts in perspective the fragility of human life. Let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham with you every day. You're Home of the Reds and the Bengals and so much more. News Radio seven hundred WLW. Meanwhile, in the Chented Forest, Eddie and Rocky are on the yellow Brick Road. Dude, we're trying to
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