‘Worst case scenario:’ Eastern Ky. natives hunker down in home of Fort Myers

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday afternoon. One family originally from eastern Kentucky has lived in the Fort Myers area for nearly 20 years, and say this is the worst they have seen.

“Everything just kind of became the worst case scenario,” said Brook Stephens.

Fort Myers is getting beaten by Hurricane Ian.

“We just lost our pool cage, lost a huge tree out front, but in all honesty this will be nothing compared to what some people will have happen to their home because of the storm surge,” Stephens said.

Stephens and his family moved from eastern Kentucky to Fort Myers in 2004. They’ve seen many hurricanes and tropical storms, and Ian is already one of the most memorable.

“I hate to see what’s going to be in Cape Coral, Sanibel Island, Captiva, all of those are under water. This is much worse than Charley, much worse than Irma as far as we’re concerned,” Stephens said.

In Fort Myers, the storm surge has been reported over seven feet high. Stephens and his family are far enough inland that the surge isn’t as big of a concern for them. But the wind and other elements are.

“We ourselves, we don’t have storm shutters,” Stephens said.

It’s a monstrous storm, leaving behind extensive destruction.

“It’s going to take a long time to recover from this,” Stephens said.

The family lives in a portion of Fort Myers that was not under any evacuation orders. Stephens said it’s a tough decision to make, because once you leave, you don’t know when you’ll be able to come back.

Copyright 2022 WKYT. All rights reserved.