Hurricane Ian: Surviving the Storm

By Jim Anderson and Brian Johnson

From the author:

"As a First Responder when Hurricane Charley came through, it didn’t quite prepare me for what happened with Hurricane Ian.

Like everyone else, as I watched the news coverage of the devastation on both Sanibel & Fort Myers Beach, I felt anxious thinking about going over and seeing the Islands that my family and I had called home and worked on for over 30 years.

Crossing the patchwork of repairs that made up the Causeway and finally entering the Island was surreal. As I approached the 4-way stop, looking to my left I saw that

Periwinkle Way was closed because the bridge was washed out. Trees were down everywhere, and any trees left standing were holding onto parts of buildings.

Driving along the Gulf Drives, some buildings appeared to be slightly damaged while others were destroyed, burned to the ground, or missing all together. With a drone, some houses and condos looked like doll houses because without roofs you could see the individual rooms with furniture strewn about.

It appeared nothing escaped Ian on our barrier islands. On the East end of the island, the Sanibel Lighthouse now stood on 3 legs and the buildings at its base were washed away. On the West End near Captiva, the collapsed buildings I saw were once the Lazy Flamingo, Santiva General Store, The Mad Hatter Restaurant, and the Castaways Cottages.

Heading over to Fort Myers Beach, Times Square was now just sand. Stunningly, the shrimp boat fleet were now piled on top of each other and resting in a parking lot. The countless single-family homes, condos and businesses were now left destroyed or missing.

This book is dedicated to those who have lost so much. We will continue to cover the recovery and rebuilding of our Islands."

Autographed Copy