Last Hurricane Irma shelter still open in Lee is set to close; hotels next for some

Cristina Varela has not slept in her own home in 41 days — since Hurricane Irma made landfall in Southwest Florida on Sept. 10. 

Varela, 43, said she has played public shelter hopscotch. She started at the Germain Arena shelter, then moved to the Florida Gulf Coast University shelter before ending up at the Estero Recreation Center. Her home in a Bonita Springs mobile home park is still damaged.

Varela learned earlier this week that the Estero shelter will close Saturday. She spent some time Friday afternoon packing her car, preparing for her drive to a Fort Myers hotel approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. 

"I'm looking for apartments, but it's hard," Varela said. "Bonita's so expensive, so I'm looking at Fort Myers." 

Like Varela, others living temporarily at the Estero Recreation Center, the last hurricane shelter still open in Lee County, are making arrangements for where to go after the shelter closes Saturday at noon.

They were notified Monday that the shelter would close, said Dianna Van Horn, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross. 

The Estero Recreation Center shelter has been open for 55 days, since the heavy rains that brought flooding to areas of Lee County at the end of August, according to the Red Cross. 

Forty-eight people remained at the Estero Recreation Center as of Thursday, said Tim Engstrom, a Lee County spokesman.

Last week the shelter housed 159 people, down from the 1,049 people there at its peak. 

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Lee County staff, the American Red Cross, United Way and FEMA have been helping people in the shelter with housing plans since the Estero Recreation Center opened as a shelter, Engstrom said. 

Shelter residents have gone to the Bob Janes Triage Center or hotels with assistance from FEMA, he said.

SalusCare also has worked with shelter residents, Engstrom said.

Varela said representatives of agencies came to the Estero Recreation Center to help residents transition out of the shelter. 

"There have been really nice people that were here to help us," she said. 

Residents of the shelter can choose from options presented to them by the county and the Red Cross or make their own choices about where to go after the Recreation Center shelter is closed, the county said.

Van Horn said the next step will be to clean the Estero Recreation Center. It is unclear when it will be back to normal operations, she said.

Varela has been approved to stay in a hotel and is waiting for a call from FEMA about whether her stay there can be extended while she looks for a longer-term place to live.

Without the hotel room, she would be at risk of homelessness. 

"I don't know what I'm going to do after that," Varela said. "That's my biggest concern."