This town that bills itself the "Stone Crab Capital of the World" never fully recovered from Hurricane Donna's devastation in 1960, when flood damage was so severe that the county government was moved 30 miles north to Naples.
EVERGLADES CITY, Fla. — This town that bills itself the "Stone Crab Capital of the World" never fully recovered from Hurricane Donna's devastation in 1960, when flood damage was so severe that the county government was moved 30 miles north to Naples.
Now a commercial fishing and eco-tourism destination of almost 700 year-round residents -- and the southernmost city along mainland Florida's Gulf Coast --the town is facing the threat that Hurricane Wilma might again put it in harm's way.
The town dotted with seafood restaurants, airboat-tour docks and piles of crab traps along the Baron River was practically deserted Saturday since many residents had heeded an evacuation order for this section of Collier County and left their homes, many built on stilts.
People who remained were waiting to see what developed before deciding to leave. Wilma was still loitering over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday and computer models were unclear as to what part of Florida would be affected by the storm.
Four buses had been hired to ferry away residents who had no transportation. Houses were boarded up. Tourism and fishing had ground to a halt.
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"The hurricane has stopped us from doing anything," said commercial fisherman Mitchell Blankenship as he relaxed late Friday outside at the Triad Seafood Market & Cafe along the river. "People don't want to buy crabs because they're going out of town."
The mayor worried this town of no stoplights, whose population expands threefold in the winter, could be flooded by a storm surge as high as 14 feet.
"This is a big test," said Mayor Sammy Hamilton Jr. "The water kills you."
Commercial fishermen worried that Wilma could hurt their livelihood.
"If the hurricane hits here, there's going to be a bunch of lost traps," said Blankenship, whose 1,200 traps were 30 miles offshore in 70-foot-deep water.
At the two-story City Hall, where white paint was peeling off the Corinthian-style columns, city workers Vivian Brown and Dottie Smallwood Joiner stuffed documents into black plastic garbage bags for safekeeping.
"We ran out of boxes," Joiner explained.
City Hall still bears water marks halfway up the first floor walls from Hurricane Donna, which covered almost every building in town with mud.
The county government relocated to Naples, making that the county's largest city, drawing wealthy retirees, medical facilities, banks, grocery store chains and movie theaters.
Everglades City has no such businesses.
"If you've got a hot date going to the movies, you've got 30 miles of smooching because that's how long it takes to get to Naples," said Joiner, a lifelong Everglades City resident.
Elaine Middelstaedt moved to Everglades City four years ago to escape those big-city amenities and was charmed by the town's serenity and the Wednesday morning ladies-only coffee klatches that rotate at the town's restaurants. She's confident the town will survive Wilma.
"When we looked around Florida, it was either condo canyons or megamansions," said Middelstaedt, an attorney and pension planner, who planned to ride the hurricane out in her home. "This is just the friendliest, greatest town. It's a little bit of old Florida."
Source: Associated Press
