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As Hurricane Ian barreled toward her home in Fort Myers, Florida, Sandy Middleton sat 1,500 miles away in Wisconsin, convincing herself it would be OK.

Hurricane Ian Leaves , 2.5 Million Without Power in Florida. CBS News reports that when Hurricane Ian hit Florida on Sept. 28, its winds were so strong that the storm was just shy of being deemed a Category 5 hurricane. Power lines didn't stand a chance. According to poweroutage.us, over 660,000 customers lost power before 2:30 p.m. ET. By 10 p.m. ET, over 2 million had no power, and after 5 a.m. on Sept. 29, that number climbed to over 2.5 million. By 10 p.m. ET, over 2 million had no power, and after 5 a.m. on Sept. 29, that number climbed to over 2.5 million. Southwest Florida is currently the most impacted, but according to CBS News, areas along the state's eastern coast have also lost power. Florida Power & Light warned of the outages before the storm hit. On Sept. 29, Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were over 42,000 linemen ready to restore power when conditions are safe. Reuters reports that Florida Power & Light said it has already restored power to over 500,000 people. However, the company , "anticipates some customers will face prolonged outages because portions of the electric system in Southwest Florida will need to be rebuilt rather than repaired.". According to the National Weather Service, after the eye of the storm made landfall, it will take about 24 hours for Ian to make its way across the state

Thursday morning, she even thought it might be: Initial pictures of the outside of the home, taken by a neighbor, showed a modest amount of damage.

A crumpled roof. A collapsed carport.

“My mom, she’s so strong,” Jackie Middleton, of Waunakee, said Friday afternoon. “She was like, ‘It’s OK. It’s the outside. We’re going to be able to rebuild that.’”

Hope faded later Thursday, though, when the neighbor was able to get inside the home, where a damaged roof let rain pour in unimpeded.

“It’s just devastating,” Sandy Middleton said Friday, from the Castle Rock Lake campground where she stays each summer. “I don’t even know what to do when I get there. I can’t live in my house.”

When Ian blew across Florida on Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, Madison-area residents who own properties in the Sunshine State couldn’t do much more than watch, wait and hope.

Homes that sustained wind damage caused by Hurricane Ian are seen in this aerial view Thursday in Fort Myers, Fla.

It’s unclear precisely how many Wisconsinites own homes in Florida: The U.S. Census Bureau tracks second-home ownership, but not to that geographic specificity.

But long, cold winters tempt Northerners to travel south each year, and the Sunshine State is one of the most popular destinations.

As of 2018, between 20% and 30% of homes in the Fort Meyers region are their owners’ second homes, according to a National Association of Home Builders analysis of the 5-Year American Community Survey.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, has a home in Fort Myers. Former UW-Madison football coach and athletic director Barry Alvarez spends winter in Naples.

Tasha O’Malley lives in Sun Prairie with her husband, Brendan. Earlier this year, the couple also bought a house in St. Petersburg, Florida, they rent out as an Airbnb.

“We thought about driving down to board up the windows,” a 1,300-mile journey, she said.

But a Florida neighbor convinced the O’Malleys to stay put.

“My husband might get stuck, there’s bridges that could’ve closed and kept him off the mainland,” Tasha O’Malley said.

Their St. Petersburg home weathered the storm with just some yard debris and, for a few hours after the hurricane passed, a power outage.

Sheri St. Mari splits her time between Verona and Naples, selling real estate in both states.

St. Mari was in Naples this week when she learned about the impending hurricane. She texted her children in Wisconsin to ask if they wanted her to head north, but even before they replied, she was packed up and en route.

“I feel like a traitor because I left my neighbors there. That’s what happens when you (live in) multiple places,” St. Mari said. “But I had to come for my children. I had to respect that there’s a mandatory evacuation.”

Sandy Middleton plans to return to Florida in three weeks, after the water in her Castle Rock campground gets turned off Oct. 15.

So far, she’s been unable to reach her insurer, and her policy documents are in Florida.

She doesn’t know where she’ll stay. She doesn’t know how she’ll clean up her property. She doesn’t know what can be salvaged.

“It’s just kind of overwhelming, and everyone asks a lot of questions, and I’d like to take 24 hours to not talk about it,” she said.

But, she said, reality won’t wait.

The bottom of massive storage tanks are seen at Octopi in Waunakee.

A steel facade on the new production facility at Octopi is designed to rust to create a maintenance-free surface. The building is home to a high-speed canning line and storage tanks, some of which can be seen from the outside through the massive windows.

Some of the products produced by Octopi are on display in the company's tasting room in Waunakee.

Isaac Showaki, founder of Octopi, chats in the company's tasting room with Chris Zellner, Waunakee's village president. Since opening in 2015, Octopi has grown to more than 200 employees and now uses 567,000 square feet of production, warehouse and office space in Waunkee Business Park and in nearby Windsor.

A group of local and state officials walk up a ramp as they prepare to tour the new 200,000-square-foot warehouse and packaging facility at Octopi in Waunakee.

Workers at Octopi in Waunakee continue their efforts to install tanks and other systems in a $50 million expansion of the company's production facility. Some of the new tanks can hold as much as 50,000 gallons of product, including beer, seltzers, teas, energy drinks and other beverages.

Workers at Octopi in Waunakee continue their efforts to install tanks and other systems in a $50 million expansion of the company's production facility. Some of the new tanks can hold as much as 50,000 gallons of product that include beer, seltzers, teas, energy drinks and other beverages.

Joe McCloud of Pristine Process Solutions in New Glarus works Wednesday to insure a newly installed tank at Octopi in Waunakee is level and straight.

Joe McCloud, left, and Eddie Yirsa, both of Pristine Process Solutions in New Glarus, work on leveling and placing a storage tank in a $50 million addition to Octopi in Waunakee.

Parker Milbauer, left, and Quinn Arnott, both of Pristine Process Solutions in New Glarus, install a hopper used for mixing dry ingredients at Octopi in Waunakee.

Some of the new additions to the production facility at Octopi.

Miles of piping are part of the new production facility at Octopi in Waunakee.

The new production facility at Octopi in Waunakee is seen in the distance as visitors leave the company's warehouse.

The new 200,000-square-foot warehouse, distribution and packaging facility at Octopi in Waunakee. 

A packaging line at Octopi that creates variety packs for its customers is housed in a $22 million, 200,000-square-foot warehouse facility across the street from the company's production facility in the Waunakee Business Park.

Isaac Showaki, founder of Octopi, shows off a new packaging line that is designed to create variety packs. Octopi makes beverage products for 20 different companies.

This aerial photo from a drone shows the solar array on the roof of Octopi's new production facility in Waunakee. The array is part of a $1.5 million system that includes a massive battery to store power for use at a later time. The system is designed to reduce Octopi's reliance on the grid by 25%.

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Homes that sustained wind damage caused by Hurricane Ian are seen in this aerial view Thursday in Fort Myers, Fla.

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