People on Fort Myers Beach woke up to piles of sand on Estero Boulevard and on side streets just hours after Hurricane Helene.
“We were expecting sand, we weren’t expecting this much sand,” said Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers.
Storm surge brought in the sand from the Gulf, coating Times Square.
Watch below to see the aftermath of Helene on Fort Myers Beach:
SO. MUCH. SAND. Hurricane Helene brings in mounds of sand on Estero Island
“It’s going to be a long day,” said La Ola owner, Thomas Houghton. “There’s a lot of erosion. A lot of pavers washed out.”
That’s what he found when he got back to his restaurant on the island.
Some businesses didn’t take on too much water, Allers said.
“Most of the people have said it hasn’t affected their equipment,” he said.
A pretty lucky reality because the surge forced people to stay in their homes. Some couldn’t stay, though.
“I will tell you that many, many rescues took place,” said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.
He said they got about 100 calls for service. This is between assisting other agencies, taking calls about storm damage, requests and things like that.