The town of Fort Myers Beach is cleaning up Monday after tropical storm Debby sent flood water and sand back into the streets.
Multiple businesses, and even the town mayor, said the effects of this storm were worse than Hurricane Idalia.
"We got a little bit more water than any of us expected with the high tide, the heavy rain and the surge all at the same time. We had pretty good flooding," Mayor Dan Allers said. "We are all working together to get the sand cleaned up off the Blvd., off the sidewalks... Idalia didn't cover all the side streets. There were a couple of spots on Estero Blvd., Times Square was obviously the worst. Same thing here, North Estero Blvd. got quite a bit of sand."
Businesses in town are cleaning up and reopening with ease.
Wahoo Willie's had some special helpers. 40 FGCU volunteers came to help shovel sand and clean up the parking lot so the restaurant could open for lunch.
"[This is] just what FGCU does. We're a part of this community, and if we can help out in tough times, that's who we are," said David Tollet, head baseball coach at FGCU. "[The town has] just been through so much and I'm just glad that we can be just a little bit of help to the people down here on the beach."
Down the street on Times Square, multiple business owners came together to help Marcelo Espinoza turn his beach hut right side up. It fell over because of the strong winds Sunday.
"Thank God I have, like, all my neighbors here. The sense of community is what really keeps us all together," Espinoza said. "It doesn't look like it right now, but it's really good. And it's going to come back even stronger, I know that."
Espinoza said seeing his small business damaged and, on its side, brought back memories of Hurricane Ian. When asked if any future storms will impact his decision to do business on Fort Myers Beach, Espinoza said, "It's a very special place to me. So, I am not leaving it. I know there's a lot to do... I still have to work on some stuff. But if we just stop right here and let it go, it's never going to come back to what it's supposed to be, and this beach is really magical. I really love it. So, I am not leaving for sure."
FMB Chamber of Commerce CEO Jacki Liszak said that is just one example of how the town works together.
"It just goes to show that we're all pulling together here. This is a very tight community, very close community, and we're supporting each other. We're going to have to continue to manage these things. I mean, storms are going to continue to come. It's just the nature of it," she said. "We're getting much better at being resilient and anticipate these things. Our town did a fantastic job ahead of time during and then, of course, right after the storm the county with the county support super appreciate that."
Many places reopened on Monday. Others are waiting until Tuesday to clean up. Espinoza plans to have the beach hut back and ready for the weekend.