FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. (NewsNation) — Nearly a year after Hurricane Ian’s devastation on Fort Myers Beach, the House Oversight Subcommittee on Government and the Federal Workforce will hold a hearing on the response to the storm.
Subcommittee chairman Pete Sessions will spearhead the hearing titled “Weathering the Storm: Oversight of the Federal Response and Recovery Efforts in Southwestern Florida following Hurricane Ian.”
Despite more than 10 months passing since Ian’s landfall, cleanup escalates, as helicopter crews remove boats and debris from mangrove fields. On Sanibel Island, there are signs of anticipation from insurance claims and contractors to aid in rebuilding.
”There’s a lot of history and a lot of heritage here,” an excavator operator told NewsNation.
Sanibel residents, including Richard Johnson, owner of Bailey’s General Store and the mayor, face rebuilding from scratch.
“This is a significant undertaking for us,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s business was reduced to rubble by Hurricane Ian. He initially found the Small Business Administration loan process smooth but hit obstacles.
“It got transferred to a desk in Washington, D.C. and that’s when things changed,” he said.
The subcommittee chair is set to evaluate Hurricane Ian’s federal response, aiming to prevent similar stories, stating, “We owe it to American taxpayers and Southwest Floridians to examine the federal response to this deadly hurricane and identify how we can improve disaster response moving forward.”
Saibel resident Chauncey Goss will speak at the hearing.
“If you’re going to send someone to a disaster area, make sure that person is able to make decisions and to do things,” Goss said. “Don’t just send people. We don’t need boots on the ground. We need brains on the ground.”
Hurricane Ian ranks as the third most expensive weather disaster ever, and the rebuilding process will span several years.
“We had six to eight feet of storm surge completely fill the building. It was like somebody took the building and shook it really hard,” Johnson said.
While Johnson has started the process, across the bridge, Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grill is complete after 10 long months.
“Just seeing it filled with a lot of customers there’s just a lot of joy coming back,” said Doc Ford’s server Paige Bennett.
A recurring theme among small business owners applying for SBA loans after Hurricane Ian is a challenging and convoluted process, along with extensive communication. These concerns will be addressed in Thursday’s hearing.