FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. – The Leonardo Arms condominium building on Fort Myers Beach, which was already deemed “vulnerable” by engineers before the hurricane season, will be rebuilt, according to the building’s board president.
Hurricane Ian left the first and some of the second floors heavily damaged — or even destroyed. The storm pummeled through windows and walls, pulling out just about every and anything inside.
“This is what’s left,” said Gene Duffy, the president of the Leonardo Arms Condo Association.
Not a single thing remains in his first floor condo besides the bathtub and one pair of pliers.
“This was my living room. That was my master bedroom,” he said as he pointed to a bare concrete floor.
All of his belongings, his life’s work, were sucked out to sea with Ian’s storm surge.
“We’re talking king size beds and large furniture and all your appliances and everything,” he said.
Tuesday was the first time Duffy saw the damage Ian did to the building and his second home.
When the water receded, all it left was a clean slate. It looks like nobody even lived there, with wires and pipes dangling from the ceiling.
“I hate to say I was right, but I was right,” he said.
He’s referring to what he told us back in the spring when our first report on Leonardo Arms was done.
“We are one storm away from the devastation,” Duffy said in an interview in early 2022.
Two weeks after the category four storm and the word “devastation” still doesn’t do it justice.
“I would say the dictionary has to write a new definition for it after you see it in person.”
NBC2 is highlighting the building out of all the homes and high rises on the island for one reason. Before Ian was even a clip on the radar, Leonardo Arms was deemed vulnerable by engineers.
After through Ian, albeit badly beaten up, it still stands.
Gage: “Is the building even salvageable?
Gene: “Oh yeah! We had the assessor in today, the inspector, and he said the piers are fine. The main structure is fine. To put this back, what’s here, is no different than building when it was new.”
Gage: “Do you know how long it will take to rebuild this place?”
Gene: “My guess, two years plus or minus.”
They’re still really early on in the process, but if he’s right, which he has a tendency to be, that means Gene will be able to ring in his 80th birthday back on the beach.
But until then, there’s a lot of work to be done.
“Nature took its course, now we, man, has to put it back to a lovely livable place to be,” he said.
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October 12, 2022 at 11:34AM
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Leonardo Arms to be rebuilt after suffering severe damage from Hurricane Ian - NBC2 News
"severe" - Google News
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