"There were waves coming into the house," Fort Myers family shares survival story
FORT MYERS - It's a story of survival for the Newman family in Fort Myers, surviving Hurricane Ian.
"Unfortunately it's a little depressing every once in a while when we walk outside and see all our belongings on the curb. All our memories," said Ralph Newman.
Nearly everything he and his wife Lynn own is sitting in two heaping piles in front of their home, which is right on the Caloosahatchee. When Ian blew through, the Caloosahatchee was inside their home.
"Initially, what happened, was water started coming up through the floorboards," Ralph explained.
At first, the water was ankle deep, then it got much worse quickly.
"Next thing we knew water crashed through the glass sliding doors. It took out the shutters, the whole works. There were actually waves coming into the house," he said.
Pictures he snapped show the rising water splashing in.
As the water rose around them, they knew they had to get out.
That's when part of the ceiling caved in.
"The waves crashed through the office windows there," he pointed.
"It came through so strong it actually washed high enough to take out the ceiling in here. Those were actually waves coming up, hitting the soffit outside and coming through."
But leaving was not so easy. Ralph's wife is in a wheelchair.
They were trying to get to their second-floor garage apartment.
"That genesis you see sitting there, that actually drifted in front of the stairs going upstairs. It blocked the stairs from me getting her up there," Ralph said.
After getting the car out of the way, Ralph began moving his wife. "We actually came out the front door. By that time the water covered the steps here," he explained. "Sitting in the wheelchair it was chest high."
They got to safety. Now, the family is packing up whatever can be saved.
Ralph and Lynn's son Don said they never expected this to happen.
"This made it through Charlie, Irma. we were here for Andrew and everything else. It flooded up the streets, came up maybe to the deck but never, first time we got water in the home," he said.
The Newmans are grateful no one was killed, they know everything else can be replaced. They know, however, there are tough days ahead as they figure out what to do next.