Hurricane Ian

The Lee Board of County Commissioners on June 16 approved the draft RESTORE Act Direct Component Multiyear Implementation Plan (MIP) and authorized a 45-day public comment period as required by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Intermittent closures of portions of the Lighthouse Beach Park Fishing Pier parking lot will be made over the next several weeks as Hurricane Ian recovery improvements are completed.

The funding from FEMA is meant to support more than 50 recovery and hazard mitigation projects in Florida communities affected by Hurricanes Helene, Milton and other past disasters.

WGCU Public Media recently won a regional Edward R. Murrow award for news documentary. The Murrow awards are among the most prestigious broadcast and digital journalism awards in the United States. WGCU received the award for Rising: Surviving the Surge, a documentary about Hurricane Ian, the 2022 storm that forever changed Southwest Florida.

On the verge of the 2026 hurricane season emergency management workers from Florida and well beyond are in Palm Beach County this week for the annual Governor's Hurricane Conference. Attendees got to hear some first-hand experience from Lee County.

Now it’s up to the town council to make a final decision on whether to approve a 150-unit hotel and 46 multi-family condos at the site of the former Outrigger Beach Resort.

In 2022, according to visitfortmyers.com, there were more than 4.4 million visitors, with the top three local attractions drawing crowds to the county being the beaches themselves at 66%, the Fort Myers Beach Pier at 36%, and the Sanibel Lighthouse at 26%. However, the year after Hurricane Ian, that number fell to nearly 3 million visitors. The pier’s visitation rate dropped to 15% while the beaches remained No. 1 at 51%. But now, with the promise of a new and improved pier on the horizon, those stats are starting to rebound.

The park is closed for duration of the project.

He has been cited as helping save lives during some of the worst weather in Southwest Florida history. One of the area's top weather forecasters, Matt Devitt, has been let go from his position at WINK News.

Jim Atterholt is retiring after swerving six years on the Fort Myers Beach Town Council, effective at the end of the year. First elected in March 2019, Atterholt's tenure included navigating the Town through the COVID-19 pandemic and multiple major storm events, including Hurricane Ian.