

I would be surprised that there’s a single structure on the island that hasn’t been impacted by the storm.” “The power infrastructure is severely damaged. “The island is in rough shape,” said Sanibel Police Chief Bill Dalton. Due to the damage to the causeway, first-responders are only able to get to the island by boat. A resident of Naples, Dave Trecker serves on a number of local boards.Florida residents assessing storm damage Thursday found collapsed buildings, ongoing flooding, downed power lines and impassable roads, including a key bridge connecting Sanibel and Captiva islands to Florida’s mainland that has been washed out.Īpproximately 40 people were taken off the Sanibel Thursday, 12 of whom were injured. Money is important and billions will be needed to rebuild.īut people helping people? You can’t put a price tag on that. Volunteering with Send Relief, Naples Moms Group and a bunch with the unlikely moniker of the United Cajun Navy. Most just did mundane things - providing transportation (flooding destroyed thousands of cars), delivering ice and meals, helping neighbors deal with sodden rugs and carpets. Rescuers linked arms to reach people stranded in submerged mobile homes. Swimmers, risking their lives, pulled people from floating autos. ¦ We were reminded that living by the gulf has built-in risks, big ones, and that developers shouldn’t add to the risks by putting up more coastal buildings (think One Naples).īut the main thing we learned from Ian is that people are the greatest bulwark against storms. ¦ We learned that the Miami area might have the right idea in hardening the coastline, flood-proofing buildings and constructing massive seawalls. Neither do sand dunes, all of which are gone. ¦ We learned that mangroves don’t stop storm surges. The main effect will be to pump GOP turnout. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott before the midterms. The New York Times politicized the storm in an effort to disparage DeSantis and Sen. Just elected officials doing what we elected them to do. Ron DeSantis meeting and vowing to work together to provide funds for recovery. And a special nod to FPL for around-the-clock work to restore power.Īnd, though largely symbolic, it was gratifying to see President Joe Biden and Gov. Kudos to outgoing County CommissionersĪndy Solis and Penny Taylor for their guidance before and after the storm. This time officials provided advice on hunkering down, which is what most of us did, at least in Collier County. Again unlike with Irma, there were no hysterical cries to “evacuate, evacuate,” when people had nowhere to go.
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Wink News showed actual locations of tornadoes in real time, and NBC and ABC combined forces on TV and radio to provide timely reports. Weather forecasting gave advanced warning about the track and storm-surge dangers.
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On the plus side, unlike with Hurricane Irma five years ago, people were at least somewhat prepared for Ian. Recovery in Lee County will take months, even years. Friends in Fort Myers Beach said a 16-foot storm surge destroyed their second-floor apartment. Boats were tossed around like toys and entire neighborhoods were reduced to rubble.

Once the ground was saturated, huge banyan and oak trees fell like dominos across Pelican Bay Boulevard. “The white caps on the berm lake sprayed the 12th and 14th floors of the high rise next door. I watched as the winds and rain increased and the storm surge tsunami flooded the berm with 4 feet of water that extended over the parking lot, into our lobby and across Pelican Bay Boulevard. Geoff Noble describes the hit from his 14th floor condo in Pelican Bay, Naples. For Southwest Florida, it was the worst storm in history, with losses projected to surpass $100 billion. How bad was Hurricane Ian? And what did we learn from it?
