Sanibel businesses board up; shops start prep ahead of Hurricane Ian

Nick Ticich and his family have owned the T-Shirt Hut since the 1950s, acquiring the neon blue building in '86 along Periwinkle Way.

Over the past 50 years, the family has battled a handful of hurricanes and won nearly every time.

Yet after his family almost lost the store when Hurricane Charley ripped through the tiny town in 2004, he said he still feels the need to board up for each oncoming disaster.

Just in case it ends up a losing battle.

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"I mean, it could change. It could go and it could come at us," Ticich said, boarding up his shop Monday morning. "We can lose the building. We can lose everything."

Sanibel businesses are slowly but steadily starting to board up ahead of Hurricane Ian, the storm predicted to hit Southwest Florida by midweek. 

As a potential Category 3 is just a day or so away, residents of the 33-mile-long community were still sitting outside of cafes and stores Monday. A handful of stores started their hurricane preparations with sandbags and shutters in tow.

The consensus is clear: Sanibel businesses aren't too concerned but at only 3 feet above sea level, they are taking no chances.

Putting the pedal to metal, Beachside Animal Clinic owner and veterinarian Mark Mathusa started putting his steel hurricane shutters on his clinic Monday afternoon. 

"I wasn't that worried about the hurricane to be honest, but it seems to be edging a little closer, so we just don't want to come back to broken windows," Mathusa said. "At least when it passes, we hope if we don't get a storm surge, we'll be able to just open up and pick up where we left off."

He is worried about potential storm surge, he admits.

"If we get a storm surge, I'm gonna have mold in the walls, I'm gonna have my floors gonna come up... that's what I'm really worried about," Mathusa said. "This building has been here through Hurricane Charley, through (Hurricane) Erin, and didn't get any damage at all."

Beyond shutters and sandbags, most business owners feel they don't need anything else to face Ian's wrath.

Ticich said he remains unconcerned for now, keeping an eye out for any sudden changes.

He added these storms come with the territory of living and operating a business in Florida, so he's just taking it in as he goes.

"We've been paying insurance every year and it just keeps going up and up and up, but it's just part of it, you're living in Florida," Ticich said. "You live in a peninsula, it's all surrounded by water so it happens ... but knock on wood, we haven't had many (hurricanes in Sanibel), so it's actually nice."