The U.S. Postal Service of Southwest Florida was not spared a beating from Hurricane Ian.
“We’re not sure of the magnitude of how much mail was lost. We have recovered quite a bit of mail even though some was wet… we dry it up and get it delivered,” said spokesperson Robert Rhoad.
The storm destroyed and closed post offices on Sanibel, Captiva, Marco and Pine Islands, as well as Fort Myers Beach and Downtown Fort Myers.
The Page Field location is now staffed with 135 postal workers picking up the extra load.
Amy Ceresa is among the many, who has been loading up her truck and hitting the roads to deliver mail for days.
“I just find the roadways a little more difficult. People are paying attention to four-way stops and it’s really dangerous out there,” Ceresa said.
Joda Brun delivers mail on foot in Downtown Fort Myers and said the conditions are the worst he’s ever had to deliver in.
He said many of his customers have seen their offices and strong fronts destroyed, and he can’t deliver their mail that gets held until they return to claim it.
He does hand mail to those he can.
He urges anyone without a home, mailbox, post office box or business to request their mail be forwarded to an alternative address if they have one.
In all, there were six post offices left closed by the storm. Rhoad said they plan to rebuild them and eventually have them up and running again.
