Historic Hurricanes of Fort Myers: How Three 19th Century Hurricanes Influenced the Town's Development

On September 28, 2022, Hurricane Ian struck Fort Myers, Florida, ravaging Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel, Captiva, Matlacha and Pine Islands. Ian was just the latest in a series of storms that have influenced how the region has developed since the mid-1800s. In fact, it was an 1841 hurricane that followed roughly the same track as Ian that caused the Army to move its central supply depot to Fort Myers' present-day location, a site presumably safe from impacts such as storm surge, hurricane force winds and inland flooding.

That was not true then. It is not true now.

Of all the towns and cities that dot the coast of the United States from the Rio Grande to Eastport, Maine, the City of Fort Myers has the sixth most homes and fourth most multi-family dwellings at risk for storm surge in the entire nation. With more than 400 miles of canals encompassing 520 square miles, neighboring Cape Coral is America's most vulnerable city when it comes to flooding produced by tropical systems. The severity of these impacts and the associated loss of life and property damage are expected to increase in the future due to sea level rise, climate change and ongoing development of single family, multi-family and commercial properties in the shallow flood plains that drain the Caloosahatchee River and its tributaries.

With Historic Hurricanes of Fort Myers, local historian Tom Hall blends a meticulously researched analysis of where and why Fort Myers is uniquely subject to storm surge, wind damage and inland flooding with old-time stories of how the region's early pioneers weathered storms as they built a town and an economy based on cattle exports to Cuba.

For the historian at heart, Historic Hurricanes of Fort Myers transports readers to a time when rugged, enterprising men and women assayed to build a town in the footprint of an old Seminole and Civil War fort on the southern bank of the Caloosahatchee River. It chronicles the role played by iconic cattlemen like Jake Summerlin and Capt. Francis Asbury Hendry and the singular importance of the cattle industry in decades following the end of the Civil War.

For residents and property owners, this book provides a street-specific road map that delineates each neighborhood's risk for mild to catastrophic damage from storm surge, hurricane force winds and freshwater flooding. It considers how these impacts are likely to worsen in a wetter, hotter climate. And with input from WINK TV Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt, Historic Hurricanes of Fort Myers provides useful tips and concrete recommendations for how to survive a storm ... and when and why to evacuate in advance of one.

Readers will glean a greater appreciation of the factors that led to the settlement of this part of Florida. But given the region's unique risk for storm impacts in a changing climate, Historic Hurricanes of Fort Myers serves as the quintessential tropical cyclone survival guide.