FORT MYERS BEACH — Amid all the destruction and devastation on Fort Myers Beach, a condo building deemed ‘vulnerable’ by engineers is still standing.

The Leonardo Arms condo number two at the south end of Estero Island is badly beaten and bruised.

“It’s still standing, but you can see right through it,” John Galataro said, a resident of Fort Myers Beach. NBC2’s Gage Goulding has been following the battle residents have had to build a seawall. A seawall wouldn’t have stopped the catastrophic storm surge, but it could’ve helped prevent the loss of the entire beach. Galataro said residents have been trying to get permission to build a seawall for their building’s protection, but because of turtle season all they could use were sandbags. Now after Hurricane Ian’s demolition through Fort Myers Beach, just inches of sand stand between the condo building and the Gulf.

Fort Myers Beach condo building severely damaged by Hurricane Ian is still standing.

“Now the problem is, they’re all stuck up there because all the stairwells are washed out. And they’re all falling into the water,” Galataro said.

The first two floors of Leonardo Arms are severely destroyed and the bare pilings holding it up are exposed, making it a ticking time bomb for a potential catastrophic collapse.

“People can’t get down so we’ve been handing ladders up so people can get them from the second floor down,” Galataro said.

It is unknown at this time how many people tried riding out the storm or if anyone that stayed behind survived.

“There’s people hurt. A lot of people hurt,” Galataro said.

But as the sun sets, we do know the destruction Hurricane Ian left in our community.