North Fort Myers man recounts tornado survival and calls for better alerts

Steven Orthodox was walking his dog, Faith, in his North Fort Myers neighborhood when a tornado tore through the area, leaving him shaken and reflecting on the importance of timely warnings.

"We saw the lady with her dog coming over there walking behind the house to go home. So I said, let's wait until she passes," Orthodox said.

Moments later, debris began flying, and the roof of a neighbor’s house landed in the exact spot where Orthodox had been standing.

"That's when debris started hitting her in the back of the head," he said.

North Fort Myers has faced multiple tornadoes, including one in late June and others spawned by Hurricane Milton.

"Everything was just fast, and it was over just as fast," Orthodox said. "When you start seeing that damage in front of you, like from this one, you know, that's damage that sticks."

While tornado sirens are common in other parts of the country, Orthodox noted their absence in North Fort Myers.

"If you hear that siren or whatever it is for a warning, you know, people are going to head for cover," he said.

"Nothing. There were no alerts," Orthodox said. "We would have headed for cover right away."

Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has implemented additional warning systems to address such emergencies.

"If it was a tornado warning, we'd light off the siren," said Diania Tsenekos, director of emergency management at FGCU.

The university uses phone notifications and speaker systems on campus.

"We do have brand new blue code blue poles around campus. And they are speaker-generated. So we could send a text message to that speaker, and it'll audibly sound it out for us. It'll speak it on campus," Tsenekos said.

She explained that sirens and speakers provide an additional layer of safety, especially when phones are unavailable.

Jennifer Hubbard, a warning coordination meteorologist with the National Weather Service, explained why tornado sirens are not widely used across the Gulf Coast.

"It doesn't alert you when you're indoors, especially with our current building codes," Hubbard said.

She added that studies in Lee County found the systems to be cost-prohibitive.

"There were studies done long ago where it just wasn't seen as being cost-effective for the maintenance and the cost required," Hubbard said.

The cost of installation and maintenance remains a significant factor.

"I've heard upwards of $30,000 to install," Hubbard said.

For Orthodox, however, the investment would be worthwhile to prevent others from experiencing similar trauma.

"Warnings are so important, and it's got to be something," he said.