Debris fills a pool at a home damaged after Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers Beach.
Photographer: Eva Marie Uzcategui/BloombergThe Big Take
Ravaged Florida Town Becomes a Magnet for Risk-Taking Homebuyers
Fort Myers Beach, destroyed by Hurricane Ian’s winds and flooding, is being remade by those who can afford to build stronger structures — and face future storms
A year after Hurricane Ian ripped through southwest Florida, wealthy risk-takers are transforming one beach town.
In Fort Myers Beach, many of the middle-class cottages that once dotted the Estero Island town were wiped off the map. Ian killed 21 people and swept away a third of the homes and businesses on the narrow, 6.5-mile-long strip of sand, leaving a blank canvas for affluent newcomers — and a preview of what could take hold in other coastal communities as climate change spawns more intense storms.