After Hurricane Ian, a low-lying Florida city starts to rebuild. Should it?
As Hurricane Ian bore down on Florida City, residents began to take stock of their situation.
All the time they should have been gathering supplies and putting the finishing touches on a $20 million, two-story senior center.
All the time they should have set up an emergency shelter for the disabled.
All the time they should have made plans for their children and grandchildren.
All the time the city should have been putting its assets to work.
But none of that happened, and it’s now obvious why.
When the big storm hit, this small city was largely abandoned.
And what was there was run-down.
After a few days and countless phone calls to FEMA, they learned the city no longer had the services they needed.
But then someone came to their rescue.
G.B. Williams, owner of G.B. Williams Construction, a city-subsidized contractor, got an order to construct a two-story senior center, using donated materials.
On Sept. 20, he pulled a second-floor trailer out of the shop and began loading it on his truck.
He pulled a second-floor trailer out of the shop and began loading it on his truck.
He walked the roof to check for shingles and then began to put in the windows. He began to work on the interior walls.
He had to use a small hydraulic ram to get the roof off because the shingles were so loose.
A few days after Hurricane Ian arrived, a little more than a week after the storm hit, he was finished.
It was a masterpiece, a beautiful, graceful addition as graceful as any building he has ever designed.
But even then, the building went into limbo for about a month because it had no electric.
Then, on Oct. 16, the city got an order from FEMA for parts and supplies.
And by the weekend of Oct. 19, it had everything it needed — just in time to help thousands of people in the city who had been displaced by the storm.
There was so much to
