FORT MYERS BEACH – With tropical weather aimed straight at Southwest Florida, all eyes are on a Fort Myers Beach condo building that is “one storm away from devastation.”

The last line of defense for the Leonardo Arms community are massive sandbags. They’re here to protect Building #2 from the impending Gulf of Mexico. While this storm isn’t going to wallop them, a bigger one this season could cause devastating damage, or ever cause the condo building to collapse. “Let’s be perfectly clear, it’s very serious,” said President of the Leonardo Arms Condo Association Gene Duffy. They spent big bucks on putting the sandbags here, but it’s not all they wanted. Originally they asked to protect their entire beachfront area.

“The (Florida) Fish and Wildlife Commission only granted permission to only go halfway,” he said.

While they shore up the beach that used to extend a football field into the Gulf, it’s really only a bandaid. The real solution to keep water from coming any closer is a seawall.

“It would be nice to have it done now before a hurricane hits us,” Duffy said.

Here’s the thing, it’s currently turtle season. Without an emergency approval on their permit application, they wouldn’t be allowed to start construction until November 2022, and that might
be too late.

“We need to get that seawall in now,” he said.

One of the closest units to the water belongs to the Laurenson family.

“Yeah, we’re really close,” said Elizabeth Laurenson.

Their condo has been passed down through the family. As the years progressed, their vacation spot shrunk.

“I’ve been a little anxious, but when I see it I’m hopeful that it will be fine,” she said.

These sandbags will have to do the job until they can build the seawall. If they get emergency approval, that would start the process now.

If not, they’d have to wait until November 1, 2022.