After flooding and damaging tornadoes in the Fort Myers area, the cleanup from Hurricane Milton is blending in with the ongoing cleanup from past hurricanes.
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00:00This afternoon many businesses and residents are already working to assess
00:04the damage here in Fort Myers Beach following Milton making landfall
00:08yesterday. The big story here is sand and lots of it. If you take a look down the
00:13street here you'll notice a ton of debris but that's sand built up all
00:18along the roads. Now if you take a look at this video as we drive into Fort
00:22Myers Beach this was earlier this morning. Again that big story sand, a lot
00:27of contractors, public works officials and more are now already starting the
00:32rebuild process because of it. They are no stranger to storms like Milton
00:36thinking back most recently to Helene and Ian back in 2022. Now while the area
00:41saw roughly five to six feet of storm surge thankfully no major structural
00:45damage here. Most dealing with flooded out businesses and homes. Now just 15
00:50minutes away is where those in Fort Myers proper saw significant damage.
00:55Roofs ripped off of homes due to a tornado and in an area that was not
01:00under a mandatory evacuation all before Milton even made landfall. Families
01:05were left scrambling to seek shelter. Now back in Fort Myers Beach the
01:09overall feeling is frustration. The rebuild process starts once again.
01:13Unfortunately a lot of the damage here came from previous storms years ago
01:18meaning it quite literally could be years before people here feel a sense
01:22of normalcy for Accuweather in Fort Myers Beach. I'm Allie Reed