PORT CHARLOTTE — Two years ago, Stephen R. Deutsch was sitting in his office on Murdock Circle as Hurricane Ian swept through Charlotte County.
The county commissioner swore he could feel the office building sway on the fifth floor as 150-mile-an-hour winds swirled in Port Charlotte.
Having spent the day answering any constituent calls he could, Deutsch eventually left the office when the county building lost power.
“When I finally got out of the building … I ended up getting to my car and there was debris on it,” he told The Daily Sun in September.
The vehicle was functional enough to run after the debris was removed, but Deustch said the roads that night were difficult to navigate — especially thanks to the total loss of power after the storm.
“You had no frame of reference. Everything was pitch black,” he recalled.
The county commissioner traveled back to his home in that darkness, never going above 30 MPH, with the only light to travel by being his own headlights and one remaining glowing Walmart sign by the road.