FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Few communities in the U.S. have seen the level of destruction Hurricane Ian brought to Fort Myers Beach. The town's vice mayor, Jim Atterholt, compares it to the destruction some European cities saw in World War II. Six months after the storm, he and other officials are working in tents and trailers. The town hall was destroyed.
The oldest church on the island, Chapel by the Sea, also now is just ruins. "You can see how the front of the sanctuary was just devastated." But the storm's impact was unpredictable. "On the front of the church," he says, "you see this beautiful pristine stained-glass window that was perfectly untouched."
