Gracie Fusco
•8/11/2026
LEE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) — Four years after Hurricane Ian, some homes in a Lee County neighborhood still sit damaged.
Carolyn Kimbrell lives on East Riverside Drive in Tice, where she says several homes have never been fully cleaned up or repaired. She came to WINK Listens, saying she's tired of looking at the damage and wants to know when something will be done.
"Right now, there's seven houses without walls, without furniture, without doors, and nothing's being done about any of these," Kimbrell said.
She says most of those homes are empty, with one still having a pontoon boat on the seawall. Kimbrell says she didn't want to complain right after the storm and gave her neighbors time to recover, but eventually started calling code enforcement.
"They lost everything, and I mean, I understand that, but you know, we're going on almost four years," Kimbrell said.
WINK News found there are seven properties with a combined 14 code enforcement violations since 2022. Those include violations for things like lot mowing and nuisance accumulation, with the responsibility to correct those violations falling on the property owners.
After living through Ian, Kimbrell says seeing the damage every day is its own kind of reminder.
"So depressing, and everybody that drives back there said, 'Oh, I can't believe nothing's been done,'" Kimbrell said.
"We're all, you know, terribly disappointed in the way everything's being handled," she said.
As for her ideal situation, Kimbrell wants action.
"These people step up and either have their houses knocked down and rebuild, or you know, put the property up for sale," Kimbrell said. "Do something."
