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Cadillac Resident In Cape Coral Cleaning Up From Hurricane Ian

Hurricane Ian made landfall more than 1,000 miles from Northern Michigan, but many people here have close ties to the sunshine state.

Curtis Shultz grew up in the Naples area but has lived in Cadillac for the last two decades.

He also has a house in Cape Coral.

“As far as like the worst storm, this is probably the worst I’ve seen,” said Curtis Shultz. “It’s like a bomb went off here, like an apocalypse.”

Shultz left Cadillac, bound for Cape Coral Friday morning, with a trailer full of items to help fix his home and help his neighbors.

“I brought probably like 100 gallons of gas, six five gallons of the like Collegian water jugs and then a bunch of bottled water,” explained Shultz.

He got to his house in Cape Coral Sunday afternoon and says most of the area is still without power.

The Cape Coral community neighbors Fort Myers and took a direct hit from Ian.

“We took a pretty good hit. I mean, we lost probably 80% of the roof shingles. The screen closure is probably like 90% of the screens are gone, and probably some of it is the structural part is damaged,” said Shultz.

Shultz’s sister Susan Cousins lives south of Fort Myers in Bonita Springs.

“Every day, we find out somebody else we knew is no longer with us,” said Susan Cousins.

She owns two restaurants on Fort Myers beach but can’t get to them. She only can see pictures from people who are still on the island.

“A lot of people have lost everything. I think it’s time for us to heal and try to figure this out. It’s going to take a lot. It’s going to take a long time for us to get back,” said Cousins.

Cousins says the only thing she can do is take it day by day.

“Everybody’s, checking on each other even down our street. We’ll check and see if anyone needs anything,” Cousins explained. “The Salvation Army came by on Sunday and brought us a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and bottled water. So, you know, people are coming around.”

Shultz says the storms seem to keep getting worse in recent years.

He was told his power could be on by the weekend.

Susan hopes to be allowed on Fort Myers beach next week.

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