FLORIDA — One month ago, a monster hurricane stormed Florida’s southwest coast. 

On Sep. 28, devastating storm surge smashed through second-floor windows as punishing winds turned shredded tree limbs and other debris into deadly missiles.

But Hurricane Ian’s destructive power stretched far beyond Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach, where the process of cleaning up and rebuilding is still just getting started.

Across Central Florida, unforgiving rain overwhelmed lakes and rivers. Weeks later, standing water remains a major concern.

Spectrum News reporters span the state to assess the pace of progress and speak with some of the people most directly affected by the natural disaster.

Riding out the storm

It was exactly what officials had warned residents in evacuation zones along the coast not to do, but for those along Southwest Florida’s coast who decided to stay put in the face of Hurricane Ian, it was an experience that forever changed their perspective on the power of nature. 

For more than 100 of them, where the 150 mph storm made landfall and in flood-prone areas across the state and up the Atlantic coast, the decision not to get out of harm’s way proved deadly. 

A 15-foot storm surge swept over Fort Myers Beach, flattening or flooding out everything in its lethal path of destruction.

Kimberly Scherman and her family were there. Despite an evacuation order, they stayed in their home — and she says they’re lucky to be alive. Her husband, Jason Scherman, grew up in the house and had been through several storms, so the family chose to hunker down and ride it out.

But Hurricane Ian was different.

"This was my first hurricane, and it’s going to be my last — because it’s just too much," Kimberly Scherman said while cleaning out moldy debris. “We just thought 3 feet of water. We didn’t think it was going to cover our whole damn house."

Cut off and surrounded

Surrounded by the aftermath of a crushing storm surge and near-Category 5 winds, those who stayed behind on Sanibel Island — those who managed to survive — are now sharing their harrowing stories.

Paul Roshberg and his wife were among them. Their past experiences with hurricanes (Charlie in 2004 and then Irma) left them complacent to the very real danger a powerful storm poses to a vulnerable barrier island.

Like the Schermans on Fort Myers Beach, the Roshbergs realized their mistake too late.

"This was a different story. The storm – the water came so fast, it was like a river coming down the road,” Paul Roshberg said after being ferried back from the mainland to salvage what he can.

Before the rapid completion of a temporary repair to the severed Sanibel Causeway, help for those stranded on Sanibel began flying in on U.S. Coast Guard helicopters. But for evacuated residents desperate to return, boats — often operated for free by local volunteers — were the only way to get back to whatever was left of their homes.

Danger rises across Florida

Hurricanes often cause damage far inland, hours and days after making landfall. As Southwest Floridians struggled to stay above the storm surge, Central Florida residents began to see band after damaging band of wind and record rainfall. 

Inch by inch, retention ponds, lakes and rivers across the region began to overflow their banks, sending feet of water into surrounding neighborhoods where flooding had never before been a concern.

That was not the case in Orlando’s low-lying Orlo Vista neighborhood. 

Hurricane Irma left hundreds of people stranded by floodwaters, waiting desperately to be rescued, and Hurricane Ian’s impacts were even more significant. 

Robert Jenkins and his family were saved by rescue boat crews both times.

Now, they’re moving out.

After a failed attempt to protect their belongings from waist-deep water, two-and-a-half hours after his family was rescued, Jenkins became one of about 270 people Orange County Fire Rescue pulled to safety in the wake of Hurricane Ian. The Florida National Guard played a critical role, as well.

Jenkins says they’ve received $5,000 from FEMA, so far, and plan to start over somewhere else.

An unprecedented threat

The danger faced by many people across Central Florida can’t be overstated. As Hurricane Ian’s relentless rain raised bodies of water to record levels, the National Weather Service (NWS) in Melbourne was forced to escalate its messaging.

Suddenly, phone notifications started blaring “Flash Flood Emergency.”

“We don’t see Flash Flood Warnings often. We certainly don’t see flash Flood Emergencies,” Meteorologist Maureen McCann explained to Spectrum News viewers after 5 p.m. on Sept. 29. 

Lives were in serious and immediate danger.

“They’re really reserved for the most high-level, high-impact events that are very, very rare — historic unprecedented flooding,” NWS’ Jessie Smith said.

Some areas received 15 to 20 inches of rain.

Underwater for weeks

Powerful pumps and long stretches of bright orange booms keep a Sanford hospital up and running in spite of the obstinate flood waters all around it. 

But, one month after Hurricane Ian, some local business owners struggle to reopen their doors — and retain their staff.

Kim Smith said she is sticking it out. The prep cook started her job at St. Johns River Steak and Seafood just a month earlier, but she was the first one to make her way back to the property after authorities gave the all clear.

Smith is from New York and believes paradise clearly comes at a price.

“We have to pay the consequences for living the state of Florida," she said. "I just wish there could be something done about this, but there’s nowhere for the water to go. It’s gotta go on its own.”

It takes more than one dedicated employee to run a restaurant, though, and many of Smith’s colleagues have quit over the uncertainty. 

Surged out of business

As homeowners and business owners in Central Florida face ongoing struggles after Ian, many Southwest Floridians must come to grips with a more grim reality.

For many badly damaged businesses unable to conduct business, there’s simply no way to rebuild and recover.

Olsen Marine Service opened shop 53 years ago on San Carlos Island. It survived powerful winds and 2 feet of flooding from Hurricane Charlie.

Ian surged 13 feet of salt water and a mountain of massive shrimp trawlers onto the family business and wiped out a small apartment building some of Dominick Ferrante’s employees called home. The building’s top half floated about 50 yards from its foundation.

Now, with millions of dollars’ worth of equipment already rusting, Ferrante says Olsen Marine Service is now just a memory.

Still waiting for assistance

With much of the most immediate attention squarely on the hardest-hit coastal areas of the state, some families just a bit farther inland say they’re stuck waiting for help — from anyone. 

John Velez is a single dad. He and his kids live in Harlem Heights, where the water line inside their home stands at more than 4 feet. They can’t stay there, so they’ve been forced to split up.

Velez is staying on a friend’s couch, his kids are with different family members and his father is sleeping in a tent on their front lawn.

But, desperate to return his family to a sense of normalcy, Velez says he’s frustrated by unexplained delays.

A month after Hurricane Ian, he still hasn’t seen an insurance adjuster, and FEMA hasn’t responded to his claim.

“Some other people have been taken care of, but we still — I still haven’t seen anything in any bank account or anything like that.”

For now, Velez says, he keeps busy working at his tree removal job and making plans for his family's future — which may begin in a new home.

What to rebuild — and how?

Location has long been the name of the real estate game, but elevation may become even more important.

In a low-lying state like Florida, a few feet can mean the difference between minor damage and utter devastation.

After Hurricane Ian, some experts are questioning if destroyed homes and businesses in the most flood-prone areas should be rebuilt at all. A recent Climate Central report predicts that by 2050, more than 140,000 parcels of land in Florida will be at least partly below the tide line.

Joel Figueroa Vallines, with the American Society of Civil Engineers, specializes in building design and says a lot can be done to protect vulnerable properties, but there’s no short and cheap solution to this long and costly problem.

“I think revising the building codes is a good starting point, but the building codes alone are not going to promote quality construction, good maintenance and strong designs,” he told Spectrum News.

And single-family homes near lakes and rivers are one thing, but beachside condominiums and apartment buildings are another.

Figueroa Vallines said the condo safety law passed in Tallahassee after the Surfside tragedy is a good place to start in dealing with such a complex and incredibly important conversation.