We had early morning appointments (8:40 and 9) with our dermatologist, Dr. Kagen. It was dark still at 7 AM....we left at 7:20 and good thing as traffic was heavy (and we're not in-season yet)!
Full body scan check-ups for both of us and all good. Mark had 1 spot on his forehead that Dr. zapped, made appts. for next April and we were walking out the door at 9 AM. Starting tomorrow, Mark is to put polysporin and band aid on 2x a day till healed. Definitely do not go swimming, hot tub or to the beach (she said - not that you'll find a beach open") cause of all the bacteria. Next stop was for coffee and everywhere we drove, the devastation became worse. While downtown is not pretty now, the areas we saw today were just unrecognizable with neighborhoods, strip shopping centers, businesses, etc. just annihilated. PILES and PILES of people's belongings along the roadside for as far as you could see and every side street, more of the same. It was just incredible. The Sanibel Outlet Mall - such a pretty place is a shambles and they still have no power and even though there were steps up to the stores, everything is pretty much empty. Salon by Design where I go to Jewel for my hair has part of the roof caved in, lots of roof damage, etc. It's like a ghost town.
Lo and behold as we were driving around, I got a text from Salon by Design to their beloved and loyal customers that effective November 1, they will have temporary quarters open at a unit in the Health Park facility. Will be so good to see Jewel (hopefully,,, as we don't know her story).
And another sad story of a man who came from Michigan to help a friend in Naples with clean-up. The guy fell into the water and cut his leg....infection set in and he died. So much bad bad stuff in the waters.
We stopped at Norman Love's for light breakfast/coffee and then on home.
Signs are blown away everywhere - those people are going to have a booming business once things settle down, but no signs for a long time I'm sure. Minor detail.... Many overhangs at gas stations are damaged or gone.
The Sanibel Causeway which had heavy damage is open today to residents 2 days earlier than planned. I can only imagine the long lines as traffic going to Fort Myers Beach was very heavy today - people are reporting they waited in line 4 hours to get to the beach. Fortunately, the south end bridge has been inspected and now also open which will help immensely.
Liam had told us about the shattered screens at Top Golf (they played there last December a few weeks after it opened). We saw the pics on the news yesterday and it looked like tattered long strips of ribbons hanging....however, it is all fixed and looks like nothing ever happened. This place is back in business!
All 80 Lee County schools will be open by Friday.
We had lunch at Buckingham Farms with John and Beth - sooo good to see them and hear their stories and catch up with everything. We were together for over 2 hours enjoying this favorite restaurant and sharing sad stories from the hurricane + family and health updates, travels, etc.
In today's News Press, here are some interesting and mind boggling facts from Cape Coral...
Nearly 20% or 350,000 cubic yards of the estimated 1.8 million cubic yards of storm debris have been collected as of Tuesday. Officials are aiming to pass through every street in the next 60 days and will continue to collect debris throughout December. Debris must be placed at the curb in 3 separate piles - vegetative, construction and appliances. 160 trucks a day are rolling throughout the city picking up 100 yards of debris from dawn to dusk. They have picked up more than 7,100 loads and it's 3 weeks today!
So many prayers needed for SWFL and her people/
No comments:
Post a Comment