Raul Rubio breathed a sigh of relief Thursday morning, as he returned to his artist cottage in Bonita Springs, not far from the Imperial River.
By 10 a.m., he could be seen coating a frame in white paint for one of his contemporary creations.
“Nothing happened here,” the painter, from Cuba, said with a smile, happy to see no flooding, or damage to his business from Hurricane Milton. “Thanks God.
Milton did cause one temporary headache.
“It’s just we don’t have power. But that is normal,” Rubio said, as he worked away, with his door open, for light.
He prepared for the worst, with the help of the city, who he rents his cottage from, which provided boards for windows and sandbags for doors to the collection of quaint pastel cottages, next to the Liles Hotel at Riverside Park.
A little over two years ago, Hurricane Ian pushed more than a foot of water into the cottages, requiring the city to make repairs. In preparation, Rubio raised all of his paintings, frames and supplies about 3 feet above the floor.