Sanibel Island

Stunning photos show a massive section of the roughly three-mile Sanibel Causeway wiped out and collapsed into the waters below it.

on Thursday but had to turn around once they saw the destruction, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Hurricane Ian completely knocked out a portion of the only road that connects Florida's barrier island of Sanibel with the mainland as the - Hurricane Ian knocked out a portion of the only road that connects Florida's barrier island of Sanibel with the mainland.

With the three-mile bridge destroyed, the 12-mile barrier island can only be reached by boat or helicopter, making rescues difficult.

“It will return, but it’s going to take a very, very long time.” Andrews that she was stuck on the second floor of her home, with the first floor flooded. “It’s a very special place,” Ms. Susan Andrews, the owner of SanibelSusan Realty and a resident of the island for more than 30 years, said on Thursday that she had evacuated before the storm, but had spoken to several friends who stayed behind and were in serious danger. A spokesperson for the Coast Guard confirmed that crews flew over Sanibel on Thursday and have begun airlifting some people to safety. “And it washed away roads.

A chunk of the Sanibel Causeway fell into the sea as Hurricane Ian pummeled Florida, cutting off access to the barrier island where 6,300 people normally ...

The Sanibel Causeway and the Matlacha Pass Bridge, which connects nearby Pine Island to the mainland in Cape Coral, will both likely need structural rebuilds ...

Residents throughout Sanibel share their stories of Hurricane Ian, whether experiencing the storm firsthand or awaiting the status of a loved one.

As the same debris that was pounding against Pentz hours earlier finally stopped, he attempted to contact his daughter, Stephanie, and let her know he's alive. "The current took me, I finally grabbed on to some bushes," he recalls. His house was on 12-foot stilts and set back half a mile from the shoreline, she said. “There was nowhere to go at that point because we're upstairs and we're afraid the waters going to keep coming up and collapse upstairs… "I tried to keep a little humor and say things like, 'Hey, at least we don't have to carry all this stuff back all the house, everything is going into garbage,'" Lambert said, with a small smile. then the storm surge came and that's it," Pentz said, trying to talk through a strained voice. Her father lived alone, and cell phone service was down as of Thursday morning. They also intended to pick up her “extremely stubborn” 88-year-old father, a four-decade resident of Sanibel island. “We were gonna go somewhere, but then there was nowhere to go,” he said. to be in the middle of it and everybody down there, there's 27 units (in the park),” Lambert said, looking as his neighbors make the trek to their drenched homes. “I think mine is going to be a total loss,” McCormack said. Joy McCormack stood across the road from Davis Street, a stretch of mobile homes, town houses and condos in the Iona area of south Fort Myers, now completely covered in knee-deep flood waters.

An Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center physician is in Florida to help provide medical care to people who are impacted by Hurricane Ian.

Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, leaving behind a partially collapsed Sanibel Causeway. The Lee County sheriff said while he ...

We WILL rebuild back to the community we know and love." Brennan said the boat floated in around 7pm. FORT MYERS FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 29: Brenda Brennan sits next to a boat that pushed against her apartment when Hurricane Ian passed through the area on September 29, 2022 in Fort Myers, Florida. It was built in 1884 and given to the City of Sanibel in 2004 for restoration purposes. "We don’t know when the water’s going to go down. "This was, without a doubt, the strongest hurricane in Southwest Florida history," he wrote on Facebook. For WINK-TV, the wall of storm surge that Ian brought entered the newsroom set in Fort Myers. We don’t know how they’re going to leave, their cars are totaled," Hailer said. Wednesday, he said the worst surge was behind them and water levels were slowly lowering. Staff members used towels and plastic bins to try to mop up the sodden mess. The hurricane brought high winds, storm surge and rain t Desperate people posted to Facebook and other social sites, pleading for rescue for themselves or loved ones.