Hurricane Ian was the strongest hurricane that has hit Florida since 2018. It was also the first category four to impact southwest Florida since Charley in 2004. As hurricane Ian hit, it trashed parts of Florida’s Western Coast, bringing strong winds, heavy rainfall, and storm surges. Hurricane Ian destroyed many people’s houses and even schools. Many people are devastated that they lost their homes and all their belongings. 

The schools in Southwest Florida shutdown a week before the Hurricane hit to prepare for the damage the Hurricane was going to cause. The schools are still closed as families and schools are still finding a way to recover from the damages. Ft. Myers Beach Elementary in Lee County is one of those schools, which is just one block away  from the Ocean. When Melissa Wright saw her fourth-grade son’s school for the first time after the Hurricane hit, she could only imagine three words: “ my goodness gracious”. Her concern was the physical damage the Hurricane did to her ten year old son’s educational future. 

   Many Americans live in very high risk areas such as mobile homes, and single family homes that are near or close to canals or waterways and the high rise apartments of central and coastal Florida. They all had to evacuate; many were Immigrant children and families. “We were working to provide the families with the locations of shelters closest to them and went over our safety plan of what to do after landfall,” said Damaris Albino. 

The hurricane was a nightmare for Flordian’s and caused a lot of devastation. 

As Hurricane Ian didn’t just take away from families and students, it also took away jobs. It is too soon to make an estimate on how many are left without a job right now rather than permanently, or temporarily. As some jobs will reopen within a few days, weeks or months however, for others it can take up to a year or longer. Even for farmers, they lost their houses, barns, animals, and crops.