The Villages was spared the brunt of Hurricane Ian and held up incredibly well.
Our thoughts are with others throughout the state who weren’t as lucky.
There were a few downed trees throughout The Villages, lots of tree limbs and debris (mainly palm fronds and the like), cancelled nightly entertainment and other events, golf course/pool/recreation center closures, shortages of drinking water and other hurricane supplies at local grocery and big box stores, and restaurant/business/store closings.
My friend Rusty Nelson, who not only plays storm chaser on YouTube but actually is one in real life, was definitely in his element with Ian.
He put out a great video showing some of the aftermath of the storm:
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A statement from Dr. Gary Lester, The Villages VP of Community Relations, posted to the Villages Homeowners Advocates Facebook page on September 29th read:
“Our community came through the storm amazingly well. Kudos to District staff, local government staff and our many business partners who hit the ground running today to get our Community cleaned up and back in action. A brief summary…..
…District offices open tomorrow, normal hours.
…Rec centers being evaluated to open as soon as possible. I would expect most, if not all, to be open for regular hours Saturday latest. I’ve heard of no damage suffered – just clean up.
…Entertainment on all three Squares tomorrow night on normal schedule.
…Villages Charter Schools on normal schedule tomorrow.
…Tomorrow’s polo match cancelled but Sunday match at normal time.
…Golf – both executive and championship courses being cleaned up and opening as early as Saturday.
…Daily Sun will be delivered tomorrow – delivery may be delayed until late morning.
…Villages owned restaurants open tomorrow – kudos to folks like Lighthouse and Augustines that were open today – much appreciated by clean up crews!
Overall, the story is that we have lots of palm fronds and leaves to clean up…otherwise, we’ve been very blessed.”
Unlike Irma in 2017 which dumped 12-15 inches of rain in The Villages over the span of just 18 hours, Ian was not a huge rain event (all things considered) for The Villages.
I have not read any reports of flooding, but I have heard of a couple of sinkholes opening up on the El Diablo executive course.
Speaking of Irma, The Villages CDD put out a really great presentation a few months later that went into some detail about how storm water management is designed to work in The Villages. I think it’s well worth a look if you haven’t seen it:
https://districtgov.org/PdfUpload/Storm%20Water.pdf
Here’s to hoping our 2022 hurricane season is a “one and done”!
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