With no other way in or out, Pine Island residents get lift from US Coast Guard
MIAMI - The end of another exhausting day of surviving on the Southwest coast after Hurricane Ian.
CBS 4 News made it out to Pine Island, getting a lift from the Coast Guard. It's the only way on or off the island and it's how most supplies get here.
And when you arrive, you see the devastation all over. Homes are destroyed and businesses ravaged by storm surge.
"We just said goodbye to our house," said Melissa Hoover. "I have a couple pieces of our wood that's left. We lost most of our lot and our house," she said.
We saw the spot where Melissa Hoover's house once stood right on the coast. It's completely gone. It was washed away.
Now, people are leaving. Many are getting a ride to the mainland with the coast guard or kind strangers with a boat.
"How grateful were you to get on that boat?" CBS 4's Ted Scouten asked resident Renee Swanson.
"Wonderful. I can make it out of here. Thank you, Lord," Swanson said.
Lydia Parison and her family left too. 'Did you ride out the storm there?" Scouten asked. "Oh ya," she said. "Very scary. It was intense."
Video she captured shows as the back side of the storm pushed through. "We watched the ocean come back into our property. We were in the ocean. There were waves in our backyard," she recalled.
Now, the focus is on the road leading to Pine Island. It's washed out just before the bridge. Trucks lined up filled with dirt and sand to rebuild the road… opening the only way in and out by land for people and supplies.