Fort Myers is celebrating the reopening of Tarpon Pier and Riverside Pier today, marking a significant step in the city's recovery from Hurricane Ian.
The Gulf Coast community faced significant loss from Hurricane Ian, with many losing their homes and livelihoods. Trixie Parkes, a Fort Myers resident, shared her personal experience of loss due to Hurricane Ian. "I lost everything in Hurricane Ian. I lost my home. I lost my business, and I was homeless," she said.
The city of Fort Myers lost some of its greatest spots, but today, the Tarpon Pier and Riverside Pier will reopen, with the city cutting the ribbon to celebrate the rebuild after being destroyed by Hurricane Ian.
Parkes expressed her optimism about the progress. "I'm glad any progress is happening. So God bless that we're getting things back, going again," she said.
The city was able to rebuild the piers thanks to FEMA recovery funding. City leaders say the piers were restored to look like they did before the storm while adding stronger structural components to improve resiliency against future hurricanes.
Mayor Kevin Anderson reflected on the community's journey since the storm. "Today we get to celebrate not only the reopening of a pier that's been, rebuilt with structural elements that will make it more resilient for future storms, but we also get to celebrate the resiliency of a community. It just shows that we continue to come back bigger, better and stronger," Anderson said.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. at Riverside Park. The city also plans to add amenities to Tarpon Park and hold community meetings in the future to give people the opportunity to share what they would like to see in the park.
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