HURRICANE IAN Discussion Thread

Just returned from 8 weeks on Sanibel. The change in appearance from subtropical jungle to a war zone of dead brown and toppled vegetation is sobering, but the destruction of homes and businesses is almost overwhelming.

Nearly every part of the island had storm surge ranging from 3 feet to over 12 feet. Nearly all ground level homes, condos and businesses have been gutted, either by the surge itself or by remediators trying to prevent/eradicate mold. Mountains of debris lined both sides of most streets when we arrived November 15, obscuring the view of buildings and yards behind them.

Less than three weeks after the storm the causeway reopened to pass-holders: residents or contractors who had applied for hurricane passes. Very large police presence with contingents from other jurisdictions in Florida. In spite of this 56+ burglaries were reported in the 3 months following Ian vs THREE in a normal YEAR. So many belongings strewn all over and so many houses unable to be secured due to broken windows and swollen doors. Once you force your door open, there’s no re-closing it. And with so few people able to stay in their homes, there’s little to deter looters from cruising mostly deserted neighborhoods.

We arrived almost 7 weeks after Ian, and our power and water were not restored till THAT day! Lucky timing. AND finding an electrician to install the main breaker we bought on Amazon to get around supply chain issues. Many still do not have power. Almost every power pole on Sanibel snapped off in the 150+ mph winds, but fortunately the main trunk line across the water from Pine Island survived intact. Power company linemen and bucket trucks from all over, 500 in all, descended upon the island, first by barge, then by the temporary causeway. A disaster response camp was set up at the (closed) school with semis for sleeping, for showers and for laundry. With no restaurants or groceries on island, they were set up to feed 500 linemen 3 meals a day. Because concrete poles were not immediately available, they replaced all the poles with wood poles to begin re-energizing the island, then replaced them again with metal or concrete poles as they became available.

Debris hauling began almost right away. Vegetation waste was hauled to one location to be chipped and hauled off island, and construction debris and household goods were trucked to stockpile areas to be hauled off the island by bigger trucks/trailers once the causeway opened. “White goods” pick up was by yet another contractor. We had three sweeps of our street during the 8 weeks we were there, with claw truck operators surgically removing piles of jackstrawed debris without damaging standing vegetation. As soon as piles were removed, new piles took their place.

The biggest issue for many parts of the island is the muck. Several inches of slicker-than-snot sulfurous clay-like silt scooped off the Gulf floor by the surge and settled out on everything. Besides being full of vegetation-damaging salt and sulfur, it has acted like a pond liner, impacting drainage and creating standing water issues that keep the muck mucky and allow mosquitos, no-see-ums and gnats to thrive.

It might be awhile before vegetation begins to regrow. All the leaves were ripped off most trees, and though there were encouraging sprouts of green when we first arrived, they had begun to shrivel and die by the time we left. Even native species were hard hit. Only the cabbage palms and buttonwoods (a mangrove relative) are doing at all well.

But once we got our porch rescreened (by ourselves-contractors booked up for months), sitting up there on our stilts watching the sun set behind the palms we could almost imagine nothing had changed. Many were not so fortunate.