For residents of Island Vista Estates, a manufactured-home community in North Fort Myers, Florida, hurricane recovery has come with an exhausting tradeoff: repeated water shutoffs, concerns about dirty water, and disruptions to everyday life.
Some residents say the interruptions have become so frequent that they keep backup supplies on hand just to manage basic household needs.
Here's what to know
According to Gulf Coast News, the trouble is linked to construction tied to home replacement work in the neighborhood. Residents said crews installing new units have repeatedly damaged main water lines, causing service interruptions and, at times, murky or bad-smelling water.
Island Vista Estates resident Shirley Ethier said the repeated outages have made ordinary tasks much harder.
"I'm trying to cook dinner. You know, my kid's going to be home from school in a couple hours. I got to wash dishes. You know, I got things I got to do," she said.
Ethier said the frequent shutoffs have pushed her to keep bottled water, baby wipes, and hand sanitizer on hand.
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Another resident, Amada Rosales, said in Spanish that the water can occasionally have "kind of a strange smell," adding, "But I don't use it for cooking."
More background
In comments to Gulf Coast News, Equity Lifestyle Properties, which owns and manages Island Vista Estates, said contractors taking out older homes struck water lines while making room for Lee CARES replacement units. The company said it was the seventh incident of that kind.
Lee CARES said that 29 replacement homes for Hurricane Ian victims have been placed at Island Vista Estates, and 23 more units are planned.
The organization said that the lines that were hit were "aging" and "shallow," and that heavy equipment struck them accidentally during demolition work. It also said that repairs were completed as quickly as possible in coordination with community management.
What's being done?
In a statement provided to Gulf Coast News, Lee CARES wrote, "We have implemented additional precautions such as providing a licensed plumbing contractor on-site during future demolition activities to minimize further disruptions as much as possible."
Ethier said she wants stronger safeguards before any further expansion, including going house by house to identify shutoff valves before more digging begins.
"All I wanted to do when I clocked out of work yesterday was take a shower. You know, I was like, I want a shower, and I couldn't, and it's terrible," Ethier said.
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