6 months after Hurricane Ian: When will the Sanibel Lighthouse get its new leg?
Today marks the six-month anniversary of Hurricane Ian. There are still so many reminders of the powerful and deadly Category 4 storm that hit Southwest Florida on Sept. 28, 2022. Crooked traffic lights. Debris trucks. Destroyed landmarks. Communities like Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel and Pine Island remain mostly unrecognizeable.
Social media remains active with people posting a variety of questions related to Hurricane Ian and the ongoing recover. We singled out some of the more popular questions and asked our journalists to provide the latest information.
When will the Sanibel Lighthouse get its new leg?
The Sanibel Lighthouse tower, the oldest structure on the island, is still standing, albeit with a peg leg after Hurricane Ian smashed one of them into three pieces.
There’s no date yet for the broken leg’s restoration, though it will happen.
The process involves the city, its municipal insurance company, specialty structural engineers, artisanal cast-iron fabricators and the nonprofit that manages Sanibel’s historic properties. A complete structural evaluation and report will be in the city’s hands by the end of the month said Holly Smith, the Sanibel councilwoman who was mayor during and immediately after the storm.
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“That will give us options for the city’s next move for the restoration of the broken leg,” Smith said.
They’ll need to contract with one of the handful of companies in the nation that does custom cast-iron. Meantime, there’s a “very secure temporary leg in place (and) it’s all stabilized,” said Celina Kersh Monte-Sano, president of the Sanibel Historical Museum and Village, which ultimately hopes to restore the two keeper houses destroyed in the storm as well as the tower.
− Amy Williams
When will the Sanibel Causeway repairs be finished?
On Friday. March 17, at a press conference in Fort Myers, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said permanent repairs to the causeway repairs will be done “sometime this year for the full repairs … probably in the later part of the year” at a cost of $350 million. The repairs won’t close the bridge, but will go on while it’s in use – “alongside of the bridge’s operating.”
− Amy Williams
Will the Fort Myers Beach Pier be rebuilt?
While it’s on the minds of leaders, they say there is no specific timeline as they wade through costs and repairs for at least $295 million in damage inflicted by Hurricane Ian on their government facilities, a lot of it on parks and natural resources.
“Looking at the beaches, 35 miles are classified as having major erosion out of the 47 miles of shoreline that we have in Lee County. There's no easy answer about how long it'll take to get these facilities open for the public," Commission Chairman Brian Hamman said. "One thing we have to do is make sure that we make available every opportunity to receive reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management agency, known as FEMA, for our residents.
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"The Lee County taxpayers couldn't bear the cost of rebuilding completely on their own. It's just too expensive, as we have to take part in the FEMA process. But doing that brings with it a lot of bureaucracy and a lot of red tape so we've got to make sure we dot our I's and cross our T's, turn all the reports in and get all the inspections completed as we do the process. It makes it a little slower but ultimately for the Lee County residents, it's the way it has to go."
− Phil Fernandez
What about the Naples Pier? When will it be repaired?
The Naples Pier reamins closed. It was severely damaged during Hurricane Ian. It is one of the iconic landmarks in Naples.
"The Naples Pier will require a complete redesign and rebuild. The design phase will begin in April once the contract is awarded," said Director of Naples Parks and Recreation Chad Merritt
−Kendall Little
When will the portion of Pine Island Road leading into Matlacha be permanently fixed?
After Hurricane Ian, the temporary bridge and causeway to Matlacha and Pine Island was completed in an three days, fully restoring access to and from the island.
- Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is operating under an Executive Order #22-268 by the Governor to expedite permanent repairs, condensing what would normally be a five to three-year process into immediate action. This design-build project began in late December and is currently in the design phase.
- FDOT will host a public meeting for the community to review and comment on these designs in the coming months.
- FDOT’s Pine Island Bridge and Causeway Permanent Repair project website is available 24/7 and will be updated regularly as information is available. FDOT has also created a dedicated project phone line and email.
- Hotline: (239)-214-3364
- Email: PineIslandInfo@qcausa.com
- Residents can contact Lee County Government directly regarding utilities and county services questions or the Lee County Metropolitan Planning Organization for long-term plans.
- Currently, there are no roadway repairs underway. Both east and west traffic lanes are open.
- After the temporary causeway and bridge repairs, residents and property owners have maintained access to their properties and the mainland.
− Samantha Neely
Is everyone on Cape Coral connected to the internet?
Comcast and Lumen Technologies said Cape Coral has no remaining internet outages from Hurricane Ian.
Comcast said all habitable homes in Southwest Florida using its services should be fully recovered, and the last full restoration took place at East Sanibel on Dec. 5, 2022.
Its network is fully operational throughout previously impacted areas.
“Except for homes and businesses that are still inhabitable due to storm damages, Comcast has restored services to all areas that were impacted by Hurricane Ian in Southwest Florida,” said Cindy Arco, senior public relations manager for Comcast.
Lumen Technologies, of which CenturyLink is a part, said while Cape Coral is restored, the barrier islands are still being worked on to bring full services back.
A representative attributes the day of full restoration to the extreme damage that Matlacha, Pine Island, and Sanibel suffered from Ian.
The company is also working not just to restore the service but to enhance them.
“We expect to have Pine Island and Matlacha restored by late spring and new fiber ready this summer,” said Danielle Spears,” corporate communication representative for Lumen Technologies.
As the damage to their network was especially significant, there’s no timeline available for Sanibel.
“Full restoration is taking us a little longer, but we are also planning a completely new fiber network for many locations in this area,” Spears said.
− Luis Zambrano
How much debris from Hurricane Ian has been picked up in Collier County?
1,371,829 cubic yards in Collier County, or 26,850 total truck loads.
− Laura Layden
How much debris from Hurricane Ian has been picked up in Lee County?
As of March 23:
- Total Loads:129,476;
- Total Collection: 6,351,645 cubic yards
- Construction and demolition: 2,273,938 cubic yardsch
- Vegetative: 3,896,730 cubic yards
− Bill Smith
How much debris from Hurricane Ian has been picked up on Fort Myers Beach?
- Total collection: 832,001 cubic yards
- Construction and demolition: 786,423 cubic yards
- Vegetative: 20,278 cubic yards
− Bill Smith
How much debris from Hurricane Ian has been picked up in Estero?
- Total collection: 301,060 cubic yards
- Constructin and demolition: 110,514 cubic yards
- Vegetative: 190,546 cubic yards
− Bill Smith
How much debris from Hurricane Ian has been picked up in Cape Coral?
Cape Coral reports percentage of debris recovery from canals over 12 zones.
The most recent figures available are that nine of 12 recovery have completed land based removal; water based removal is complete in 5 districts.
- Zone 7 near Burnt Store in Northwest Cape, has 10% collection
- Zone 9 in South Cape has only 25 percent collected
- Zones 8 and 11, which combined, extend from Matlacha Pass to Mid-Cape are at 35 percent.
- Others still incomplete are from 85% to 90% complete
Canal debris removal in Cape Coral began in November with land based crews accessing the canals from the street to remove vegetative debris and construction and demolition debris. Cape Coral’s cleanup is subject to conditions set out in an Army Corps of Engineers permit.
− Bill Smith
EXPECT NO MORE IANS:Decision day for ‘Ian’: Meteoroligists decide Wednesday if name stays on hurricane list
What is the 2023 "I" name on the hurricane names list?
Idalia.
The rest of the names: Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harold, Jose, Katia, Lee, Margot, Nigel, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, Whitney.
− Mark Bickel