Brew

That stretch will never be the same. The people that made it what it was will not be able to build back, building codes have changed, a new group will roll in building beach front houses and another piece of what made the area special will disappear with this storm. Matlacha will see similar issues.

After dealing with texts and emails checking on us all day because we really had not told anyone we had sold, I think it’s a state of a bit of “survivor’s guilt” at this point. We’re a random issue in due diligence from having a canal front house on the east end and almost backed out of the sale of ours prior to close because of it. After 20ish years we know a lot of the restaurant and shop owners and their staff and people who have invested in the community. I can’t stress enough how the causeway failure changes everything and is such a beating. We’ve been under evacuation orders, but residents could always return within a couple of days. You go back, you clean up or rebuild, you move on. That is all paused now along with people’s livelihoods we know that are 100% tied to the island being open.

Expense is what it is, I spent a fortune on renovations so you get used to paying triple. Now with 1000’s needing work, that will definitely extend the problem though to your point. Most fun part is everyone that drove off that island expected to be back this week. Now you have months of no power, no access, no way to start clean up, houses/restaurants still stocked with food, etc. The bridge issue turns it from a “man that’s going to suck” problem to an “oh shit, that is going to be a major issue that is going to be hard to recover from” problem. We were talking earlier because we’ll buy again (had a trip in 3 weeks to look ant houses) and I don’t even have a concept of what you would do at the moment. Our place would have been closed up assuming no breach, but what does that look like after so much time of no utilities and nobody getting into it to check on it.

The video baboon posted runs end to end on Captiva at about 17:30 to 19:30, there are no cuts that I see. There is plenty of road wash out, but nothing cut through.

Man that’s a hard watch. That house fire in the 20 minute range is right near my house we recently sold. That end of the island is decimated. It’s amazing what wind/water can do. The condo we always stayed in prior to buying is about 25 minutes or so in. It had covered parking, storage rooms, etc. behind that there isn’t anything even standing to tell you something was there. Sanibel announced earlier that every structure on the island would be inspected before anyone is allowed back. It’s going to be a long-time before people are back on the island and any real clean up can begin. Like with Charley they will make changes and build back better.

No one knows anything yet. Talked to my realtor, she is in one of the neighborhoods that faces the Caloosahatchie further up river. They have significant damage, but are good. A few boats have gone across but the canals are in bad shape along with one of the bridges on Periwinkle on Sanibel being down further blocking access. Based on pictures it looks like those that weren’t direct gulf facing and that were elevated will mostly come out with cosmetic damage that can be fixed. Biggest issue is concerns on access and what the plan for that will be as well as getting the remaining people out that need to get out. Seems to be a lot more concern for FMB and Pine Island/Matlacha as the layout of Sanibel and the building codes limit some of the openness to the elements that the others have along with just the difference in the makeup of the residents.

Multiple issues there, that first video isn’t a missing bridge though. It cut one of the causeway islands in half. It looks like the actual bridges lost the connections from the road to the bridges which is better than losing a bridge span, but the split island is going to either dictate another bridge or refilling it I assume. They just started a multi-year project last year to put protection around the causeway islands to limit storm damage.

Insurance isn’t mandatory, I would say the majority of properties on island were bought with cash based on discussions with realtors and title people and therefore self insured. Getting financed was actually pretty difficult when we decided to take advantage of the stupid low rates last year and free up some capital for other things. Flood insurance is worthless when it has a $250k cap and the cost up significantly in SWFL. We took over a policy, so we didn’t pay much for it and ended up keeping it even though we were 12 feet off the ground. Some of the houses we looked at on the water were $20k+ for commercial flood insurance with still limited coverage. Homeowners and wind were a few thousand for us because we renovated everything up to current wind standards, but it was $8k or so before that with a high deductible on a relatively inexpensive house compared to most there. We were maybe 200 yards off the beach. A lot of people self insure especially with the rising insurance cost. We didn’t like the risk of it and got ours down to a reasonable amount post renovation so it was worth it. If we would have closed on the waterfront houses we had under contract, we would not have paid for flood but would have kept wind.

The Causeway bridge is the large one in that shot. It is the first span on the right that is out. It leads to two islands with low lying bridges between them and Sanibel. It’s basically FT Myers, causeway bridge, island, low clearance bridge, island, bridge, Sanibel (out of shot to the left). Some pictures earlier made it look like the connecting bridges may be completely down also. Looks like the ferries will have to get back up and running.

For some sure, but for most including us it was a second home we split time between. The ones you feel for are the business owners. The island was built with only a couple of large corporate owned establishments, everything else is locally owned including people who own multiple stores, restaurants, etc.

This is about 1/2 a mile before you even get to the causeway. Lots of videos of coast guard doing rooftop pickups on Sanibel out there now. I get the mindset of staying, but you are on an island that was going to take a significant hit and best case scenario you were going to be stuck for some period because of where it is situated. It is also a high income, high net worth area, so means isn’t an issue. PI is different because you have a lot of old Florida elderly there with disabilities, family homes, etc that make it more of a challenge but they still have the same problem. You can be cutoff quickly.

Based on the way Matlacha lays, it is likely completely gone along with the roads. It is also 100% old Florida, so i would expect some number of the 700 or so people that live there to have stayed. The news from there is going to be bad. Sanibel is going to get a lot of the air time, Pine Island and Matlacha are going to be the ones that need help.

That is absolute worst case scenario for the island. The expectation has always been that they would lose the paving on the Causeway islands which would take a few days to get them access back, but no one believed a bridge failure was a significant concern. Just the scale of the issues it creates is hard to imagine. You have about 7000 full time residents that are mostly older, a huge industry built on travel that really starts in the next week or so, etc. I’m not sure devastating is an adequate description. Going to start checking on friends and clients now.

Lot of videos of the Matlacha / Pine Island area here for those familiar with that area. Matlacha is barely above water level but sits somewhat protected by Pine Island. It is a very interesting/eclectic little community built on water access. https://m.facebook.com/groups/ThingsTODoPineIsland/permalink/5698311996867545/

Wouldn’t surprise me although it has survived several. It took a direct hit from water and wind based on where it sits. This is from the 4 way stop, so the Mucky Duck would be to the left of the person taking the picture.

Timing was favorable for once. Our place should be mostly okay other than siding damage and landscaping. Everything was retrofitted to withstand 150+ MPH winds and 14 feet of water with blow out walls on the ground floor. The place we were buying that fell through was right on the water direct facing West though, so there is no doubt it is under water. I saw some pictures earlier out of Captiva. There is a lot of wind damage, but the water had receded. Bubble Room took a beating, but it was all still standing in that area. The islands are mostly designed for this, but there are still a lot of ground level properties that are going to be flooded out. A lot changed post Charley that hopefully helped.

Think I’ll just start watching theirs with all my free time.

I suck at posting, first one is already posted. Second one is the one I was trying to post.

Sanibel video makes me sick. That intersection is probably 1/2 mile from the beach and it is undeveloped land in between the two (road to the left runs parallel to beach before cutting back to it), so that’s not just water running up the roads. It is also not a low point by any stretch.

Lot of really nice sailboats based out of there with the nature of where it sits. Hopefully the surge is somewhat limited with the hard right it took at Sanibel. I know a few people with boats in the canals in Punta Gorda that are worried because that area wasn’t built for a lot of water.

They have been dropping and then coming back up. He said earlier they have multiple ways to upload video from them, so they have to give them time to load when one source goes down. Apparently, they are some sort of specially designed cameras in Pelican cases that they attach to fixed mounts in multiple locations. It was pretty interesting while I listened for a few minutes, except for all the other BS he was going through.

Have it muted once i heard the camera locations. Camera 5 is on the second floor of a condo and is getting waves over it. Camera 9 is sitting around 10-12 feet and has water going over it.

These guys have camera on FMB and Sanibel that are still up.