Inside Front Cover Blank
Hurricane Ian Surviving the Storm written and produced by Brian Johnson photography and produced by Jim Anderson foreword by Steven Callahan Island Scene, Inc.
From the Photographer 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. Jim Anderson Imagesforsuccess.com Copyright © 2023 Island Scene, Inc. and JMA Photography All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to: Trasi Sharp and Liza Clouse, Elijah Burns, The Stasi Family, Doug and Melanie Congress, Rachel Pierce, Dan Thompson, Richard and Calli Johnson of Bailey’s General Store, Al Hanser of the Sanibel Captiva Trust Company, Sanibel resident Becky Miller Sam Ankerson and Stephanie Muddell, Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum; Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW); Kevin Godsea and Toni Westland, “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge; James Evans, Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF); Matt Santoro, Denise Durelli, and John Scates of Pink Shell Resort.
Table of Contents Surviving the Storm - Forward.....................................................6 STORM STORIES Trasi Sharp & Liza Clouse ................................................... 39 Elijah Burns ..............................................................................44 Stasi Family...............................................................................48 Doug and Melanie Congress.............................................52 Bailey’s General Store....................................................................54 Rachel Pierce Art Gallery .............................................................58 Clinic for the Rehabilitation Of Wildlife..................................60 Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation..........................62 “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge ................................68 Bailey Matthews National Shell Museum.............................. 70 Fort Myers Beach .............................................................................73 Pink Shell............................................................................................82 Hurricane Photo Gallery..............................................................86
4 – Hurricane Ian for all those who lost so much and continue to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian — our admiration for their resilience
Surviving the Storm – 5 for Beth Haely and my father Malcolm Johnson
6 – Hurricane Ian FOREWORD By Steven Callahan When Category 5 Hurricane Ian struck Florida in 2022, it’s widespread destruction, particularly to Sanibel Island, evoked a sentiment uttered more than three decades earlier half a world away by a sailor named Phil Hoffman who was on a boat capsized by storm off New Zealand. “Never underestimate the power of water,” and “The sea takes no prisoners” were among Hoffman’s mantras while fearing the capsize and then drifting for four months. Surviving the Storm could not better illustrate Hoffman’s sentiments or struggle to survive wind and water, but his were uttered aboard a voyaging boat whereas this tale and its copious revealing photos documents how mother nature can rapidly transform a day at the beach into terror at sea without moving an inch. Survival stories are not just for adventurers, and may well become more commonplace than anyone would like as extreme weather events grow in number and ferocity. Since 1980, earthquakes, forest fires, floods, storms, and other disasters that caused billion-dollar-plus damages rose almost in a straight line from fewer than five to more than 20 in 2020, and there is no sign that they are slowing down. And that doesn’t include indirect costs, from a decline in GDP to individual savings accounts, not to mention the loss of life and personal injuries. Hurricanes and other storm accounted for the vast majority, and hurricanes 90 percent of deaths, half of those from storm surges. Surviving the Storm serves as a representative cautionary tale of one island community quickly cut off from the mainland, but it also serves as a hopeful example of resilience as it began its recovery in the aftermath. From numerous studies, we know that some people do not evacuate even when faced with imminent disaster. The International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters states that evacuation rates depend on numerous factors, from location to personal economics. Evacuation for a week to ten days can cost survivors $2,000 or more, a reason, for example, why as many
Surviving the Storm – 7 as 30 percent of New Orleans residents could not and did not evacuate prior to Katrina. But others may be hampered by other practicalities, from people trapped by disabilities to others who never receive proper warnings that can boost evacuation rates from as low as a third to over 90 percent. Some simply remain in denial or believe they can ride it out because they have been through prior hurricanes and have seen it all before, or so they think. In this volume, you will find some hair-raising short stories that reflect some of these factors as the sea’s unexpectedly large surge spread across the island, leading to everything from roommates riding a floating fridge as if trapped in a sinking barge to a family scrambling into the attic and just hoping the water would stop rising and not wash their home away completely after a failed attempt to battle rising waters and horrendous wind to get to higher ground. Simply, by the time one realizes the crisis is unfolding, it often is too late. One cannot really even stand up in water waist deep moving at a few knots. Avoiding debris whipped by deafening winds of 150 also is no stroll in the park. Surviving the Storm includes tense moments, but also some light hearts. One survivor describes a lady down the road who “saw our cottages go by her place.” It also recognizes that the end of the storm is not the end of the story. It includes the touching efforts of locals and outside volunteers in the aftermath of Ian. It is as much as study of a tight-knit dedicated and resilient community as it is how folks survived a storm, and how its citizens immediately went about caring for one another and begin the process of recovery. This may be a very localized tale, but by focusing on ground zero, it adeptly reflects and illustrates both climatological challenges of our times and how Americans and our communities typically respond. Most importantly, it clearly illustrates that human beings are not the primary force holding dominion over the earth; it is nature, which rules all, including ourselves, but Surviving the Storm also reminds us that each of us has the freedom to face it with resolve and compassion, and the responsibility to do so. Steven Callahan is the author of Adrift: 76 Days Lost at Sea, which ranked on the New York Times best-seller list for 36 weeks. He served as a consultant on the major motion pictures Life of Pi and Heart of the Sea.
8 – Hurricane Ian Surviving the Storm in Southwest Florida HURRICANE IAN WAS THE BIG ONE. It arrived on the shores of Southwest Florida on the morning of September 28, 2022 and laid waste to most everything in its path along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. This was the one the meteorologists had been warning about, this was the one that dropped the hammer. The barrier islands of Sanibel & Captiva and Fort Myers Beach took the brunt of the storm. Hurricane Ian slammed the Gulfront condos and resorts, leaving most of them empty concrete shells. It took lives, shut down tourism and completely altered the trajectories of these two island communities. Hurricane Ian was originally described in media reports as a Category 4 but has since been upwardly revised to a Category 5 by the National Hurricane Center. Ian killed more people than any other storm in Florida since the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. The billions in property damage make it the 3rd costliest weather event in American history. Sanibel resident Becky Miller, who studied meterology at Texas A&M and worked for an NBC station in Dallas for 17 years, summed it up this way: “In 2004, Hurricane Charley did damage on Sanibel, most noticeably taking out all the Australian Pines on the island, including the canopy that shaded Periwinkle Way. But Ian was so much worse. With an eye of 34 miles wide, it was three times the size of Charley. Hurricane force winds extended up to 40 miles from the center of the storm. But while Charley moved through quickly, Ian crept, battering the island for over 6 hours with winds. For many years, I’ve heard the old wives’ tale that Southwest Florida is ‘protected’ from hurricanes by the shape of the coast. Nothing could be further from the truth. It has happened before, and it will happen again.” The storm formed in the waters along the coast of Western Africa and entered the Caribbean Sea on September 21. Weather services designated it a Tropical Storm on September 24 as its heavy rains lashed the island of Jamaica. Photo by Jim Anderson FROM OUTER SPACE: View seen by astronauts at the International Space Station on September 26, 2022 as storm moved west from Cuba as Category 3 Hurricane SINKING SLOW: Cottage sliding into the bay waters around Matlacha, FL Photo by Bob Hines/NASA/Alamy Live News
Surviving the Storm – 9
10 – Hurricane Ian Ian continued to take the shape of a massive cyclone as it moved toward Cuba as a Category 3. It made landfall on the western end of the island, flooding homes and crops and knocking out power across the entire country. The mountainous nation briefly altered its form but once over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico the hurricane came into its full strength. Ian peaked as a Category 5 with 160 mph winds on the morning of September 28 and first made landfall on the island of Cayo Costa. Hurricane Ian sat on the coast of Southwest Florida throughout the morning and entire afternoon of the 28th, churning up the sea and lashing homes and retail shops with gale force winds. For those who rode it out, the hurricane seemed “to go on and on and on.” A storm surge completely washed over Sanibel & Captiva and Fort Myers Beach, reaching over 15 feet at its highest point. Not since 1926 — almost a century ago — had these barrier islands been turned into a fish tank of salt water. The hurricane broke the modern, state-of-the-art Sanibel Causeway into segments, cutting the island off from emergency vehicles. The Matlacha bridge to Pine Island collapsed, trapping residents and complicating rescue efforts. In February of 2023, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission declared 149 dead from the hurricane across the state, including 79 in Lee County. But the true death toll will never be known as many who perished were never added to the official list. They are like casualties of war in an unmarked grave, but honored nonetheless by the thoughts and prayers of many residents of Southwest Florida. The Commission reported five deaths in Cuba. Hurricane Ian moved through the rest of Florida as a tropical storm, exited into the Atlantic Ocean, took shape once more as a Category 1 and made its final landfall in South Carolina. It is estimated that 2.4 million people in Florida lost power during Hurricane Ian and the property damage exceeded $109 billion. In Lee County alone more than 50,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Hurricane Ian made national and international news. It was the single most significant event in the history of Southwest Florida. President Joe Biden and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis visited the hardest hit areas. Crews from around the country arrived the night of the storm and the following morning to rescue the stranded and begin to repair power lines and other infrastructure. Most of the people living along the coast took a major loss: home, car, job or business. Anyone living on the ground floor near the Gulf had their home flooded and much of its contents destroyed. Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach were brought to a virtual standstill and were almost uninhabitable for months. Before the storm they were two of the most popular tourists destinations in the United States with red hot economies. Their prime location on the Gulf of Mexico has inspired an intense rebuilding effort. The majority of those who live on Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach don’t want to live anywhere else and have persevered through the labyrinth of insurance claims, building permits, supply chain snarls and labor shortages to bring back their homes and businesses. Some got creative, like art gallery owner Rachel Pierce, who set up an open air market for Sanibel businesses in the front yard of her store. The Sanibel & Captiva Trust Company, the top philanthropic entity on the islands, quickly announced their plans to return. “We have never seen devastation like Ian, but it will not keep us away,” said Founder and Chairman Al Hanser. “We will continue our commitment to Sanibel & Captiva. It is a place we love and a place like no other.” Bailey’s General Store, established in 1899 and a symbol of the pioneering spirit of Sanibel Islanders, razed their entire shopping plaza to dust and will now build up. For more than a century their ground floor, old-fashioned store represented the type of hometown community seen in a Norman Rockwell painting. Now Bailey’s will be a modern, state-of-the-art grocery store and symbolize post-Ian Sanibel Island. Photo by Planetpix/Alamy Live News
Surviving the Storm – 11 ACROSS THE DEEP BLUE SEA: Image recorded from the GEOS NOAA satellite on September 27
12 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 13 MOVING OUT SMARTLY: U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Stephen Kelly leads Coast Guard strike team members in search and rescue operations on Oct. 4, 2022 BELOW: Police boat at Sanibel Marina Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ian Gray Photo by Jimmy Anderson
14 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 15 BLOW OUT: Hurricane Ian cut a swath across the Sanibel Causeway connecting Sanibel to Fort Myers SANIBEL TOLL BOOTH: In the days following the storm engineers manufactured an emergency bridge to link Sanibel back to the mainland. The toll booth became part of the construction zone. Photo by AC NewsPhoto / Alamy Stock Photo Photo by Jim Anderson
16 – Hurricane Ian POLITICAL IMPORTANCE: President Joe Biden visits Bonita Bill’s at Fisherman’s Wharf in Fort Myers on October 5, 2022. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis giving a briefing on storm on September 26, 2022 Photo by World Politics Archive (WPA)/Alamy Stock Photo Photo by AC News/Alamy Stock Photo
Surviving the Storm – 17
18 – Hurricane Ian Photo by Jimmy Anderson Dried gulf sediment in mosaic patterns covered the islands when disturbed became a fine slippery powder.
Surviving the Storm – 19 Matlacha
20 – Hurricane Ian BEFORE
Surviving the Storm – 21 Photo by Jimmy Anderson Photo by Rich Hulford
22 – Hurricane Ian Photo by Jim Anderson
Surviving the Storm – 23 Photo by Jim Anderson
24 – Hurricane Ian Photo by Jim Anderson
Surviving the Storm – 25 Photo by Jim Anderson
26 – Hurricane Ian Photo by Jim Anderson
Surviving the Storm – 27 Photo by Jim Anderson
28 – Hurricane Ian Santiva General Store
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30 – Hurricane Ian Photo by Jimmy Anderson Lifted off foundation and placed on other side of East Gulf Drive
Surviving the Storm – 31 SCCF’s Puschel Preserve generously donated a place for debris removal on Sanibel.
32 – Hurricane Ian Photo by Jimmy Anderson Crowther Roofing, fast responder
Surviving the Storm – 33 Photo by Jim Anderson
34 – Hurricane Ian Sanibel Lighthouse Before The Storm Photo by Jim Anderson
Surviving the Storm – 35
36 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 37Photo by Jim Anderson
38 – Hurricane Ian “Strangely enough, the panic did not set in until after the storm was over” Liza Clouse Sanibel homes on fire on West Gulf Drive the day after the hurricane
Surviving the Storm – 39 As Hurricane Ian approached on the morning of September 28 Trasi Sharp and Liza Clouse were starting to get nervous: they were beginning to think their house on the west end of Sanibel Island was not high enough above sea level. Yes, it was modern and solidly built, but it stood only 5 feet above the ground. By now it was too late to evacuate: power lines were already down around West Gulf Drive and the gusting winds made driving too hazardous. Earlier that morning they spoke on the phone with friends who offered them the use of their elevated stilt home next door. But they cautioned that the house was being remodeled and their roof might be vulnerable. Not for the last time that day the gals wondered: what is the bigger threat — wind or water? A plan took shape to stay in their own house while the winds were at peak intensity, and then, during the eye of the storm — when there can be blue skies — cross over to the neighbor’s house to ride out the storm surge. During Hurricane Irma in 2017 the eye created just such a calm period. The problem was the storm surge did not come later in the day, as many expected from news coverage. It came at the beginning. Trasi got on the phone with her friend Lori Miller, a meteorologist, as a torrent of water began to race toward them from the Gulf of Mexico. “Lori said the eye was beginning to wobble, and that’s when I freaked out,” said Trasi. “We realized we might not have another chance to get to higher ground.” They decided to make a break for it. But it wasn’t just themselves they needed to save: they had Trasi’s 89 year-old mother, Betty Taylor, with them. And there was also the matter of transporting their three dogs: Frazier, a 190-pound Great Dane; Ryver, a 110-pound Great Dane; and Truman, a 27-pound French Bull Dog. Trasi went first with her mother while Liza organized the dogs and supplies. “Hold on, mom!” Trasi shouted as they headed into the wind. It was less than 100 feet to the neighbor’s house, but the salt water gushing in from the sea had a force they had not Trasi Sharp, Betty Taylor & Liza Clouse Geopix/USCBP/Ozzy Trevino /Alamy stock photo Trasi Sharp, Betty Taylor and Liza Clouse. Trasi and Liza are the owners of Over Easy Cafe and Island Paws STORM STORIES
40 – Hurricane Ian Watching the storm arrive; water flooding the pool area; Betty taking shelter in attic with dogs; Liza preparing for helicopter evacuation at beach near their home expected. She soon turned back, realizing she would need Liza’s help to ferry her mom over. The water was at her knees when she returned to their house. In the short amount of time it took to get Liza the water had risen to waist height. They tried again with Liza leading the way. This time Betty lost her grip and was pulled by the current into a pygmy date palm and some bushes. Her head was submerged in the water, but the girls were able to jerk her free and drag her back to their house. All of them were cut and bruised from tree branches whipping around in the tidal current. “It was like barreling through a raging river,” said Trasi. “I was yelling at the top of my lungs but Liza couldn’t even hear what I was saying.” “If it had been still water, sure we could have done it,” said Liza. “But this water was no joke. It was strong enough to pick up a car and carry it away.” Back inside their home they decided to prepare a hiding place in the attic. Liza dried off Betty with a towel while Trasi went to the garage — where water was already beginning to enter — and grabbed a ladder. They accessed the attic from their bedroom closet. Betty went up first and Liza handed her the Bull Dog. Trasi went up next and somehow they just managed to get 120-pound Ryver up the ladder — Liza pushing, Trasi pulling her up by the legs. “We got calm for a bit, we got resigned that this might be it — that the house would probably go and we would go with it. We figured there was no way it could withstand that many hours in 150 mph winds. We could see cars, trucks and condo debris flying by our windows.” Photos by Trasi Sharp — Trasi Sharp
Surviving the Storm – 41 It became clear that they would not be able to get their 190-pounder up the ladder. Liza stayed downstairs with Frazier as the water rose. She could feel the water heaving below the house in the 5-foot crawl space. “It was so powerful it shot through the grout lines from below the floor,” said Liza. “Then water rushed in under our front door into the living room. I looked out the window and saw a Lexus SUV across the street carried out of the garage. It looked like it was going to smash directly into our house, but it got snarled up in a tree in its driveway.” With the water rising so quickly Trasi implored Liza to come up into the attic but she didn’t want to leave her dog. “We had a spat,” said Trasi. “I’ve love my dogs too. But the thought of her staying down there and drowning while I watched from the AC handler in the attic was too much. I shouted down to her, ‘I’m not going to lose you, you can’t do that to me!’” Liza came up the ladder and for a period of time the big dog sat and looked up at them. So began a different kind of hell: the wait. The velocity of the wind picked up and they could feel it battering the house and probing the weakest points in the roof. “There were many moments when we didn’t think we would make it,” said Trasi. “Mom was telling stories about when I was a girl. We told her how much we loved her. We got calm for a bit, we got resigned that this might be it — that the house would probably go and we would go with it. We figured there was no way it could withstand that many hours in 150 mph winds. We could see cars, trucks, condo debris flying by our windows — any of it could have smashed a big hole in our house with a direct hit. One of the houses across the street was carried away — it was just completely gone. Mom was very stoic, she said, ‘God’s got us,’ she was very comforting.” The water never rose above Frazier’s chest and they were able to talk to him throughout the afternoon. After a few hours they could actually see it receding. The girls came down the ladder to spend time with Frazier and survey the scene. A dumpster had crashed into their garage and punctured their gasoline containers. All of their cases of bottled water and most of their hurricane supplies had been sucked away. Their living room floor was coated with mud, sand and gasoline. In the early evening the wind dropped and they knew they were going to survive the storm itself. But now what was to come? “Strangely enough, the panic did not set in until after the storm was over,” said Liza. “We were alive but how could anyone get to us? Liza’s mom did not have her oxygen canisters. Our hurricane supplies had washed away. Our cars were destroyed and we figured our businesses were too.” The next day a fire erupted on the west end of Sanibel and heavy black smoke choked the skies above them. They heard a series of explosions and the fire jumped to several other houses. For a while it seemed possible the inferno would spread to what was left of their home. Between the wind, water, flames, and mud it seemed like they were living scenes out of the Old Testament or a Greek myth. The first person they saw after the storm was Pasquale Russo, the owner of Tutti Pazzi restaurant on Sanibel, who came through the woods in waders and carrying a machete. Pasquale and his
42 – Hurricane Ian son told them the gale force winds had cut a swath across several parts of the Sanibel Causeway. Meanwhile Jerry Wussler, a builder on the islands, walked 15 miles to see if he could find them. Once he discovered them alive he contacted the U.S. Coast Guard to rescue them. On the second day after the hurricane a Coast Guard officer came by their house and told them to start getting prepared to leave by helicopter. Trasi told them about the three dogs and he said it would not be possible to take them. A man down the street, he said, had shot his dog. “Then we’re not going,” said Liza. The officer returned an hour later and said he had made arrangements for a helicopter to land on the beach rather than lower a basket. The girls stuff p their backpacks with everything that would fit. The Gulf of Mexico was so close it was just a 5-minute walk in ordinary conditions but the amount of trees, power lines and other storm debris made it a treacherous 90-minute obstacle course. At the beach the blades of the helicopter whipped up the sand and for the first time the dogs began to panic but they all managed to board the aircraft. “The helicopter took us up and I will never forget the images,” said Liza. “We just looked down and seriously it was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. We had no idea how bad it was, we were in such shock. But we did have a laugh — once we were in the air I told Betty that this was actually her surprise 90th birthday gift: a ride on a helicopter." “Then we flew over the Causeway,” said Trasi. “And we were like, ‘Oh my God.’ And then at that point the Coast Guard guy took a picture of my mom and us and the two Great Danes and he sent it to CNN. And that’s how my family found out we were alive — they saw the photo on CNN.” 4,970 LIKES: Twitter post of helicopter rescue with Betty, Trasi, Liza and their three dogs broadcast on international television photo by Jim Anderson
Surviving the Storm – 43 Debris on on West Gulf Drive
44 – Hurricane Ian Hurricane Ian got on him fast. On the morning of the storm Elijah Burns was walking around his neighborhood on Junonia Street to check on wind conditions. He lived about half a mile from the Gulf in a ground floor duplex. With the wind kicking up he returned to his house and could hardly believe his eyes: water was already gushing in from the back lanai. He hurried over and slammed the slider shut. His friend Todd Gillespie, who was staying with him, was in shock; from Michigan, he had never been through a hurricane before. “We were relaxing in the morning and then everything changed real rapidly,” said Elijah, 31. Within minutes the water was up to their waists. The force of the flood water dislodged the refrigerator and it came bobbing into the livingroom. There was no time to create a plan. The two young men climbed on top of it as the water continued to rise. There was an attic in the carport outside of the duplex, but by now it was impossible to access. “The water rushed in from every crevice in the house,” said Elijah. “It was a fast moving river and filled the entire place. The lanai was glassed in and we watched it fill up like fish tank as we floated toward the ceiling on the refrigerator.” The refrigerator was positioned sideways. Elijah and Todd crouched on either end as they continued to be lifted to the low-lying ceiling. The power went off and they found themselves in almost total darkness. “We were both panicking, you could feel the waves shoving you up,” said Elijah. “He didn’t know how to swim. There was a skylight over the table and the refrigerator got wedged into it. There was a space big enough to fit both of IN THE KITCHEN: Elijah Burns at Island Pizza restaurant, where he works as a cook Opposite Page: Sundial Beach Resort. Sanibel Gulf-front condos were the hardest hit by Hurricane Ian Elijah Burns Photo by Jim Anderson photo by Jim Anderson STORM STORIES
Surviving the Storm – 45 Sundial Beach Resort
46 – Hurricane Ian our heads. The refrigerator stabilized with him on one end and me on the other.” So began the longest day. There was not much to do as the wind howled outside and the water kept the refrigerator pinned to the ceiling. “I kept looking at the skylight,” said Elijah. “Sometimes I wondered if it would break and we would get sucked out of it. Other times I wondered if we might need to break it ourselves so we wouldn’t drown. I told Todd we were going to be okay, but I didn’t know. I have no idea how many hours it lasted but it felt like forever.” The Gulf waters brought in plankton and the bioluminescence created pulsing dots of light around the interior. That and the strange purplegrey air outside was all they could see. Staring around the interior of the house most of the time, Elijah could tell the moment the water receded. “I noticed it when it went down by a single inch,” said Elijah. “I knew, okay, we are going back down. It started making this sound, like a suction cup. I was pretty sure we were going to make it once the peak emergency of the storm surge was over. I just kept telling myself, ‘Yes, we’re going to survive this’. Once the water went down it was all about getting out and reconnecting with other people.” They jumped off the refrigerator into the water when it was about waist high. The floor was full of mud and slippery. The smell inside the home was nauseating and Todd vomited. They spent part of the night sleeping on the dining room table. Elijah kept checking in with Todd but there times when he seemed to temporarily lose consciousness. “Later he thanked me for saving his life, he said he would not have made it without me — well, I didn’t know what to think about that,” said Elijah. “When the sun came I just wanted to get out of the house and see what was going on. I could see the choppers in the sky. I wanted to check on my friend Matt, who lived near Billy’s Bikes. I told Todd I was heading out and would be back soon.” In his blue jeans, t-shirt and water-logged sneakers, he made his way up to Periwinkle Way, climbing over trees and power lines. He ran into Bridgett Stone-Budd and other islanders. They told him the Sanibel bridge had collapsed. He reached Matt’s house but his friend was gone. On the way home he ran into his friend Jimmy, a Sanibel police officer. In the middle of their conversation, Elijah fainted in the road from exhaustion. “When I came to I was in the back of the police car and Jimmy was driving,” said Elijah. “I said, ‘What happened?’ and he said, ‘You had a seizure.’ My head was bleeding and my shoulder hurt because it had been dislocated.” Jimmy drove him along Casa Ybel Road, maneuvering around hurricane debris, and entered Algiers Park where a U.S. Fish & Wildlife boat was anchored at the shore. Elijah got out of the squad car and walked on the sand to the boat— where, in one of the strangest plot twists of the day, Todd was already seated. The boat took them across the bay to Punta Rassa, where medics wrapped Elijah’s head in a bandage and put his arm in a sling. “Some guys in a pick-up truck gave us a ride to Healthpark, but they wouldn’t let Todd in,” said Elijah. “It wasn’t like a normal visit to the hospital, it was a disaster zone too. They had no water. There was a lady giving birth in one of the rooms. I sat in the ER waiting for 11 hours before they took me in.” He was put under anesthesia and he found out later it took three members of the hospital staff to get his shoulder set back into place. When he woke up a nurse smiled at him and said, “Your friend Anthony is here to get you.” “Oh really?” said Elijah. “How is that possible?” “I kept looking at the skylight. Sometimes I wondered if we would get sucked out of it. Other times I wondered if we might need to break it ourselves so we wouldn’t drown.” — Elijah Burns
Surviving the Storm – 47 NO PLACE TO PARK: Car smashed under stairwell at Spanish Cay condo on Middle Gulf Drive, located a couple miles from Elijah’s house. Nearly every automobile on Sanibel & Captiva was a total loss. Photo by Jimmy Anderson They got into Anthony’s truck and headed to Elijah’s mother’s house in Reflection Lakes in Fort Myers. “You smell, man!” said Anthony. They arrived at his mom’s house a little after 2 AM and she gave him a hug. He showered and borrowed a set of her fiancé’s clothes and they sat up for a couple hours and he told her what happened. Everything he owned was back in the swamped duplex — everything he needed and everything he prized — including his cellphone and his guitar.
48 – Hurricane Ian Brittney Stasi was walking in the ground floor area of her family’s stilt home in the The Dunes when she felt a strange sensation: water suddenly sloshing over her feet. At the same time she heard her mother, Lisa Stasi, calling for her to come up the stairs to the main floor. Welcome to Hurricane Ian. The water rose rapidly, enguling the front staircase. “I was looking out the window and watching the water come down Sand Castle Road,” said Lisa. “I couldn’t believe it, it looked like a swimming pool. I swear I felt like I was on a cruise ship surrounded on all sides by the ocean.” Their stilt home has 14 steps at its entrance. “When it reached the 10th step that’s when I started to get nervous,” said Lisa. “People say go into your attic, well I’ve heard of people dying in their attic! Oh please! It was horrible, the worst experience, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. The news always warns you it can happen, but you never really think it will. But listen — this time it really happened!” While all this was unfolding their other daughter, Courtney, living in Fort Myers with her husband, was starting to freak out. Her power had been knocked out, but she was receiving texts from friends in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington D.C. about the calamity on Sanibel Island. Her imagination raced as she pictured their woodbuilt home. Did their roof blow off? Did the storm surge breach their front door? Were they dead or alive? The original plan had been for her mother and sister to evacuate and join her in Fort Myers for the hurricane. “My father didn’t want to leave,” said Courtney. “In the past nothing really major happened except for you couldn’t get back on the island afterwards.” But by Tuesday evening Lisa decided she did not want to leave her husband alone on Sanibel and by Wednesday morning the winds were gusting so high it was not a good idea to try to cross the Sanibel Causeway. Courtney spoke with her mom just as Brittney was making her lucky escape from the basement. She described the water coming up the steps and then the line went dead. Stasi Family WEDDING DAY ON SANIBEL: Brittney Stasi, Lisa Stasi, Courtney and Sean McNichols, and Beaver Stasi STORM STORIES