Ian at peak intensity while approaching southwest Florida on September 28
Hurricane Ian was a devastating tropical cyclone which was the third costliest weather disaster on record worldwide. It was also the deadliest hurricane to strike the state of Florida since the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in Florida since Michael in 2018.[6][7] Ian peaked as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 160mph (260km/h) early on September28, while progressing towards the west coast of Florida, and made landfall just below peak intensity in Southwest Florida on Cayo Costa Island.[8] In doing so, Ian tied with several other storms to become the 5th-strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in the contiguous U.S.[9] Ian caused 161 fatalities and caused catastrophic damage with losses estimated to be around $112billion, making it the costliest hurricane in Florida's history, surpassing Irma of 2017, as well as the third-costliest in U.S. history, behind only Katrina of 2005 and Harvey of 2017.[8]
Much of the damage was from flooding brought about by a storm surge of 10–15ft (3.0–4.6m).[10] The cities of Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples were particularly hard hit, leaving millions without power in the storm's wake and numerous inhabitants forced to take refuge on their roofs. Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, and Pine Island bore the brunt of Ian's powerful winds and its accompanying storm surge at landfall, which leveled thousands of standing structures in the region and collapsed the Sanibel Causeway and the Pine Island Causeway to Pine Island, entrapping those left on the islands for several days.[8]
President Joe Biden meeting with FEMA officials on September 29
The storm had heavy coverage in both traditional media and social media. Coverage of Hurricane Ian was the most viewed by cable viewership on September 28 with the Weather Channel occupying eight of the top ten cable spots with continuous coverage of the storm.[11]Fox Weather, the weather streaming service from Fox News reported an average of 552,000 viewers on September 28 between 1:00–4:00pm ET when the storm made landfall in Florida.[12] This was by far their most ever daily views.[13] Internet personality Ryan Hall, Y'all was ranked number three on YouTube during a livestream covering Ian's landfall on September 29.[14][15] Photos and videos of the hurricane were posted throughout social media with a large amount seen on TikTok where videos posted under the hashtag #HurricaneIan had about 3.5billion views by September 28, while on Instagram there were more than 65,000 posts with the same hashtag.[16] Others provided livestream feeds of their homes and surrounding areas during the hurricane.[17] Many Floridians who posted about the storm to social media found humor while discussing preparing for the hurricane, the storm, and its aftermath.[18] Some people who sheltered in place at Walt Disney World documented or livestreamed their experiences and the storm, and in some cases monetized the videos which drew criticism from many. In one case a Floridian YouTuber's video was disliked more than double the number of times it was liked on the platform.[19][20]
The cover of the investigative hearings transcription
The hearing was conducted inside the Lakes Regional Library in Fort Myers, Florida, one of the most heavily impacted cities from Hurricane Ian.[5] The first set of questions during the hearing was from Representative Byron Donalds for Thomas McCool, FEMA's Federal Coordinating Officer for Hurricane Ian, specifically regarding FEMA trailers sent to Pine Island, Sanibel Island, and Fort Myers Beach on Estero Island. During the questioning, it was discovered FEMA had "repossessed" 95 of these trailers from victims on the islands, and that it took 45 days for the first victims to receive a trailer to live in. It was also discovered that FEMA assessed residents 22 times to determine who would and would not receive a trailer from FEMA.[5] The next set of questioning was for Marion McFadden with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where it was discovered it takes 18 months for a single dollar to be spent from the HUD's disaster recovery grant funds. It was then discovered that "every disaster has a different set of rules", as the HUD can "publish the rules as a Federal register notice".[5] The subcommittee then questioned as to why McCool was unable to provide any answers as to what federal regulations was hindering FEMA's response.[5] The subcommittee then mentioned an article by CNN reporter Gabe Cohen titled "FEMA delays leave many Hurricane Ian victims exasperated nearly five months after the disastrous storm".[5][21]
Fort Myers Mayor Kevin B. Anderson testifying before the subcommittee
After more questioning for FEMA and McCool, the subcommittee discovered FEMA did not utilize any local area expertise. The subcommittee stated they "do not understand why FEMA cannot tap into the expertise on the local level and pre-certify people from the city", as "they know everything that needs to be known that somebody coming from out of town does not know".[5] Kevin B. Anderson, the mayor of Fort Myers then testified that FEMA was more on "a quest for process over purpose" and that the city was not able to pick up debris until FEMA told them they were allowed to.[5] Brian Hamman, the Chairman and District 4 Commissioner of Lee County, Florida then testified that FEMA had still not reimburse the county for the $300 million repairs it had done. He also testified that FEMA was preventing the county from main repairs:[5]
"So many residents call us daily. Why haven’t you torn down the restrooms at Fort Myers Beach, at Lynn Hall Park that look terrible? We are told we are not even allowed to touch them. If we touch them, if we try to clean them, we are risking reimbursement and would not be paid back for the repairs that we would need to make for that. Similar situations happen with Federal Highway Safety Administration in regards to our traffic lights. We have many traffic lights that are still mangled throughout the county, and those we were also told cannot touch them until they have been inspected. And so, residents do not understand why broken infrastructure and potentially dangerous situations continue to exist months after the storm."[5]
Chauncey Goss, a former Florida politician and resident in Sanibel, Florida stated FEMA provided "false hope" to residents on Sanibel Island, with four months of promises with no results.[5] Robert & Amy Lazzell, residents in Fort Myers Beach, testified they were glad Congress was "looking into the despicable actions of the federal government down here after the hurricane". They also testified that FEMA was spending "a lot of money, but no one that really needed it knows where it went and for the most part, their actions were no more than 'eye candy'" and that FEMA has "just too much corruption".[5][22]
During the hearing, an article from WINK-TV, titled "Man refuses to get off his Fort Myers Beach roof, protesting FEMA regulations", was entered into the record by Representative Donalds as supporting documentation.[23][5] Donalds also presented the sworn testimony from Randy Denzer, a volunteer from Texas as part of an Incident Management Support Team (IMST). Denzer testified the entire team was "confused as to why there was no marking paint on any of the structures to signify that they had been searched". Denzer also testified that direct contact with the Urban Search and Rescue Texas Task Force 1 revealed they were just "sitting in a parking lot" and "had not been assigned for search operations". Denzer also testified the unified command with the local fire department had ordered urban search and rescue teams to cease "primary searches at night".[24][5]
1 2 3 Bucci, Lisa; Alaka, Laura; Hagen, Andrew; Delgao, Sandy; Beven, Jack (April 3, 2023). Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Ian(PDF) (Report). National Hurricane Center. Archived(PDF) from the original on April 3, 2023. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
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