Just as SWFL braced for Hurricane Milton's impact, Fort Myers residents faced a terrifying tornado that left lasting destruction.
Nitza Burgos and Nelson Rodriguez were at home on Orangewood Avenue, just off Colonial Boulevard, when the tornado warning went off.
They say it was too late.
By then, they had already felt their house shaking and saw the twister going through their neighbor's backyard.
“I was so scared. I’ve never experienced a tornado before,” Burgos said, while Rodriguez described the chaos as feeling like being in “a huge blender.”
Nearby, Lacie Terrell was driving home on Colonial Boulevard, unaware that the storm had already struck her neighborhood.
“I saw an 18-foot metal sign fly into my window. It’s ironic — I left home at the last moment, and if I’d been there, who knows what could have happened?” Terrell said.
After the storm, Terrell rushed to help her neighbors, witnessing their roof in the air and a pregnant woman screaming.
“It’ll haunt me forever,” she said.
She bravely pulled a 7-year-old girl, a pregnant woman, and an older man from the wreckage.
Edwin Gire, president of Residence Roofing, shared that he had just replaced the roof that was now destroyed by the tornado. He said the family living there will now have to get a whole new truss system.
As the community begins to recover, Burgos, Rodriguez and Terrell are working together to support their neighbors.
“We don’t know how long insurance will take to respond, but these people need help now. We can’t wait for FEMA,” Nitza said.
They've set up a GoFundMe.