1 year later: Lee County mostly recovered after storm

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Sunday marks one year since violent storms ripped through multiple parts of Lee County.

A tornado menaced areas of south Fort Myers while the foul weather uprooted trees and destroyed buildings in Lehigh Acres. But Sunday, there was little trace of what happened.

“As you can see a year later, everything is beautiful,” said Anna Perez, who lives in the South Pointe West condos off McGregor Boulevard. “We’re just waiting for the pool area to get back on track.”

The pool house was one of multiple buildings that lost their roofs at South Pointe West, leaving Perez and others scrambling.

“It was scary not knowing what was I going to do, where was I going to sleep and what disaster was I going to meet once i got into the apartment.”

Victoria and Brockton Frazier went through a range of emotions as they approached their Lehigh Acres home after the storms.

“I got home from work and the front of our house looked fine, but then we saw our neighbors’ house had broken windows, so I’m like, oh gosh, I hope everything is OK,” Victoria said.

They went inside their own home and looked at their backyard. That’s when they realized one of their sheds was destroyed, a massive tree was uprooted, and their fence was in tatters.

“Our insulation was everywhere because it all got sucked out,” Victoria said.

The Fraziers decided against replacing the shed and count their blessings that their other shed was unharmed. That was the one that housed kennels for the rescue dog operation they run out of their home.

“We were OK. Our pets were OK. Everything else could be replaced,” Victoria said.

That doesn’t mean they avoided the sort of insurance hassles that several other nearby residents said they also had to go through, however.

“Cleanup was rough, but I think the worst part of it was the insurance company,” Victoria said.

The Fraziers didn’t name their insurer but said they denied multiple claims. That includes one for a pool enclosure they never actually filed because the pool enclosure never existed, the Fraziers said.

The Fraziers don’t have a pool, either. But that’s about to change. They’re in the midst of building one in that same backyard.