Rough times ahead: Hurricane Ian batters SW Florida economy

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Hurricane Ian has come and gone but it still could deliver prolonged blows to the local economy, walloping small businesses heavily dependent on tourists and seasonal residents.

Scenes of destruction in southwestern Florida will keep many winter tourists and snowbirds away while tasking local residents with rebuilding for months or more, said Michael Maguire, a manager for a group of family-owned restaurants, including a couple on hard-hit Fort Myers Beach.

“It will not be the same,” Maguire said, standing outside the Pinchers seafood restaurant in the Fisherman's Wharf area of Fort Myers. “It could be months, it could be years. We don't know. People that live in the area are not going to be in shape to go to restaurants."

Ferocious gusts ripped off roofs, collapsed walls and jolted buildings off their foundations. Flooding — including tidal surges of more than a dozen feet (3.6 meters) — inundated shops, bars and restaurants. The heavily touristed Fisherman’s Wharf turned into a dusty and surreal scene, with boats capsized far from their usual moorings. The rancid smell of hardening muck still fills the air.

As winter approaches, business would have been picking up. Bars, restaurants and the many mom-and-pop shops that line San Carlos Boulevard, the thoroughfare into Fort Myers Beach, would usually begin filling. The start of snow crab season in mid-October would usher in brisker business.

Tourists lift the region's economy during winter as do snowbirds with vacation homes to escape the chill in the upper Midwest, the Northeast and Canada. “That's where our business comes from," Maguire said.

Even before the storm, there were mixed economic signs for Fort Myers and the rest of Lee County, where U.S. Census Bureau figures show more than 60% of the businesses have less than...