Section of Sanibel Causeway wiped out by Hurricane Ian
, 2022-09-29 11:14:40,
Photojournalist Douglas R. Clifford and I left our hotel room in Fort Myers late Wednesday night and have been searching the area and assessing the damage from Hurricane Ian.
A section of the causeway leading to Sanibel is gone, wiped out by the powerful Category 4 storm.
Here are our dispatches from Lee County:
11:52 a.m.: “There’s barely anything left”
In Fort Myers Beach, emergency officials expect to find bodies in the rubble. They know people did not all heed the evacuation orders, which began Monday. Jennifer Campbell, the local fire marshall, walked through town with a colleague Thursday, surveying the damage and shutting off gas lines.
“Absolute devastation,” she said. “There’s barely anything left.”
4:15 a.m.: Section of causeway to Sanibel is wiped out
An alarm bleats endlessly at the tollbooth for the Sanibel Causeway. Step just beyond it, and the road soon gives way. Where the bridge rises from the mainland toward the island, one of the first sections of the span has disappeared. Crumbled pavement lies near the water’s edge. The rest of the bridge stretches forward, unreachable.
2 a.m.: Pavement leading to Sanibel folded up like an accordion
JUST BEFORE THE SANIBEL CAUSEWAY — Under the toll plaza sign — 1/2 a mile out — McGregor Road to Sanibel Island is impassable.
The pavement is folded up like an accordion, ripped to ribbons by a powerful storm surge. Nearby, a spiral staircase was deposited in the brush next to a white pickup. The storm flung a boat trailer and other debris, too.
Sand was strewn in sheets across the pavement — sea bottom on solid land. Waves lapped at the shore, just steps away.
Two cars tried to pass out to the island about 1:30 a.m., including a group of young men hoping to reach their friend.
They had to turn around.
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/ZHFJZOJEUJHCTHWAC3PS6Y5XLY.jpg "The pavement just before the causeway to Sanibel is folded up like an accordion, ripped to ribbons by a powerful storm surge.")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tbt/QX25UGDRBNFRRJSPFYUNUZOAIM.jpg "Just before the Sanibel Causeway, a spiral staircase was deposited in the brush next to a white pickup as Hurricane Ian went through the area.")
12:30 a.m.: Downtown Fort Myers badly flooded
FORT MYERS — Building alarms blared through the wind still rustling downtown shortly before midnight. Shin-high, gray water rippled down First Street outside the United States Courthouse. Small pieces of trash drifted in the current.
One store off…
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