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Ex-Valley residents OK after Hurricane Irma
By Justin Wier
FLORIDA
As Irma weakened to a tropical storm Monday and left Florida, ex-Mahoning Valley residents living in the Sunshine State were able to get out and assess the damage in their neighborhoods.
Mike Braun, a former reporter and page designer for The Vindicator who now is a reporter for the News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla., said more traffic was on the road Monday afternoon than Monday morning.
There was, however, significant damage. Both Lee and Collier counties had significant levels of flooding throughout, and Braun said he observed lots of trees on the ground. Most of the area was without power.
The center of the storm passed east of Fort Myers about 7 p.m. Sunday evening as a Category 2 storm.
Outside of a few mobile home parks, Braun observed little structural damage.
“It’s nothing like what you saw with Hurricane Andrew,” he said.
Braun and another reporter drove around from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
“It got to the point where the winds were so fast, we had to find a building to park next to – otherwise we would’ve been blown over,” he said.
Given the size of the hurricane, Braun said Floridians were fortunate the storm moved inland. Earlier predictions showed it moving up the state’s western coast.
“It kind of tore her apart,” he said.
Still, he predicted it would take some time for the flooding to clear and for crews to restore power.
Once the storm turned east and weakened to Category 2, former Youngstown police officer Dan Mikus and his fiancee went to sleep in their Parrish, Fla., home, despite the howling winds.
They were exhausted from preparing for the worst, Mikus said.
When they woke up, they had emerged relatively unscathed in their community, which is 40 miles southeast of Tampa.
“We weathered the storm fairly well,” Mikus said. “We lost a few bushes but that’s about it.”
The storm’s winds weakened to Category 1 strength by the time it reached the Tampa area early Monday.
Some mobile homes lost their roofs and trees were uprooted, but Mikus reported no serious damage.
The power had gone out Sunday night, but it was restored by about 10 a.m. Monday.
Police escorted bulldozers and city buses full of workers to clear trees from the road.
“They were right on the ball,” he said. “It was absolutely fantastic.”