CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — As Southwest Florida continues to rebuild after Hurricane Ian, many evacuated to escape what was expected to come.
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For one couple of 50 years, this was the first time they’ve been through a major hurricane that hit their area of Cape Coral. They stayed through it and hunkered down.
In video sent to Action News Jax from Pete and Nancy Peterson’s backyard, the footage shows their lanai nearly destroyed amid intense wind speeds.
“I’m a combat veteran for Vietnam and it reminded me of a warzone,” Pete Peterson said.
The couple live in Cape Coral where Ian’s eye went over. They hunkered down through it before heading to Green Cove Springs to stay with family.
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“By the time we were told it was mandatory, all the cars were bumper to bumper, it was like no way,” Nancy Peterson said. “We were safer in the house than to sit on the highway.”
The mandatory evacuation for Lee County came less than 24 hours before landfall. The Petersons said their house is up to code for hurricanes so luckily for them, right now it appears only their lanai was damaged, but it’s something that’s still tough to relive.
“It was frightening but we just looked at each other and said we will be alright,” Nancy Peterson said.
Thousands of people in Lee County are without power and for the Petersons, that’s still the case.
“We were OK for three or four days but two weeks? No,” Pete Peterson said.
They left on the Friday after Ian hit and they also drove around just after the hurricane passed to see the damage.
“Eight miles, not a single pole standing upright,” he said. “We went by a high school and a roof was torn off.”
“Even when we left on Friday we went through waters on the main road,” he said.
As Southwest Florida continues to rebuild, they know it could’ve been much worse for them.
Read: Hurricane Ian evacuees return to mud, rubble as death toll hits 101
“We really lucked out. We consider ourselves very blessed,” Pete Peterson said.
With Lee County being behind other surrounding counties on evacuations, the Petersons said in hindsight they wish officials did something sooner. But the couple also said they know just how unpredictable the storm was.
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The Petersons said with how much was destroyed in Lee County, it’s going to be a long time before things get back to normal.
