On Monday afternoon, just before the mandatory evacuation took place on Fort Myers Beach, Fox 4 embedded a journalist and photographer on the island.
Hotels, businesses and restaurants closed up shop on Monday.
Residents and tourists left the island.
And nearly every vehicle parked on the ground level on the north end of the island was moved to higher ground.
On Tuesday, Fox 4 highlighted the ghost town that had become of the beach.
With no tourists, snowbirds, or locals around, the resort town was empty.
By Wednesday, heavy rains moved into the area quickly.
By 11:00 a.m. parts of Lee County were under a tornado warning, one of dozens of such warnings that took place during Milton’s arrival.
As cameras captured a waterspout crossing over the bridge on Matlacha, just a few miles away Fort Myers Beach encountered strong wind gusts and heavy rain.
By 4:30 p.m. Estero Boulevard had flooded from storm surge.
Soon, the entire ground floor of the island appeared to be underwater.
The Gulf of Mexico and Matlacha Pass seemed to merge to form rushing waters along Estero Boulevard.
Power went out on the island around this time, the county had already turned off the water before the storm.
The dark night sky was lit up constantly with the bright flashes of transformers blowing on the mainland.
By 11:30 p.m. the water was receding quickly.
Parking lots that were underwater for more than six hours were suddenly visible.
On Thursday morning, the sunrise brought images of wet, sandy roads, downed palm trees and scattered debris.
But in the midst of this, Bill Waichulis, General Manager of the Pink Shell Resort, was hopeful.
“Better than expected,” said Waichulis. “We were planning for the worst. This was a little worse than Helene and that took us 48 hours to get back on our feet. If we get the power back on we can get back on our feet in maybe 72 hours.”
At the resort, one of the biggest priorities was protecting the elevators.
“It was one of the things we learned from Ian,” Waichulis said.
The elevator cars were brought to the middle floors, to keep the weights and cars out of the potential storm surge.
And new, heavy duty protectors are in front of all the elevators to keep the water out.
“We storm-proofed the panels, our elevators are perfectly protected,” Waichulis said. “It was a great investment.
