Venus fire chief: 'Ian worse than Irma'

SEBRING — Steve Irving, volunteer fire chief for Venus, was glad to say he didn't lose his roof.

That's what it seemed like, at first, when he heard a loud crash Wednesday night as he and his dogs hunkered down in his garage while a portable generator, set up away from the house, rattled away providing power during Hurricane Ian.

What did come off his house, he later found out, was a temporary roof stretched over the top of his actual roof to help keep out the weather. Straight-line winds blew his back porch off the house and knocked over a refrigerator and clothes dryer he had there.

The roof stayed intact. The next morning, he put tar over holes in the roof and called up insurance to make a claim.

Other than that' Venus has no power or internet, he said, with many trees down. Patrolling the area in the Venus Fire Department brush truck, he saw a lot of wind damage on smaller buildings, especially those with wood frames and non-reinforced roofs.

"Those structures came down," Irving said.

When asked how Ian compared to Hurricane Irma five years ago, which took a patch almost straight north from the Keys to Highlands County, he said Irma didn't compare.

"This was much worse than Irma," Irving said: "Much stronger winds."

It took until 10:30 p.m. Wednesday before winds died down enough for neighbors to be able to get out and check on him, and before he felt safe to get out and check on his home.

As for public safety, he said he'd had no calls for help in the area, and as far as he knew, no one in the area got injured.

The caveat for that, he said, is that mobile phone service was still "spotty."

"Comms [communications] have been challenging," Irving said.

Highlands County has created a portal for residents to report damage from Hurricane Ian. People are encouraged to upload photos, videos and a description of the damage to https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/19afae53f13b4123bf738821e5b6e1dd.

If your business sustained damage during Hurricane Ian, please complete the Business Damage Assessment tool through floridadisaster.biz at https://floridadisaster.biz/BusinessDamageAssessments.