Central Massachusetts native Steve Balestrieri now lives in Lehigh Acres Florida and is near the middle of Hurricane Ian’s path.
Balestrieri moved to Florida two years ago. He said he’s experienced hurricanes in North and South Carolina and in Honduras as a Green Beret in the Army, but this is the hardest-hitting one yet.
“And now we’re here, we’re being hit by the eye wall outer ring,” Balestrieri said Wednesday afternoon. “The wind gusts, we’ve had a couple of 90 miles per hour here. The sustained winds are very high. There are trees down all over the place.”