Surviving the Storm – 49 Photo courtesy of Courtney McNichols “That was a terrible place for the conversation to get cut off!” said Courtney. “I called back a bunch of times but couldn’t get through. I was like, ‘Oh, God!’” Then when I saw on Facebook and Instagram what happened to the Causeway I really started to panic.” The next day was the longest day. She heard nothing from them. Her friends up north contracted city and federal agencies and asked for the Stasi family to be placed on their rescue lists. She talked with her Sanibel friend Skyler Bauer, who said her own father, Brian Bauer, had just been airlifted from the island in a helicopter. Meanwhile, on Sanibel, the Stasi family was wondering how they were going to exit the disaster zone. Their neighbor Lisa Williams came by and told them the Causeway had been disabled. Their cell phones were charged but there was no reception. Both of their cars were flooded and they could not access the extra cases of bottled water inside. Helicopters intermittently crossed the skies above them. Unbeknownst to them a helipad had been established on the Dunes golf course. Late on the 3rd day Lisa saw a group of 3 men who looked like ex-Navy Seals crossing the golf course. Enter the team members of Project Dynamo. The organization is made up of veterans and volunteers and who travel around the country to help survivors in disaster zones. Lisa waved to him and they asked if she wanted to get taken off Sanibel by boat. “You bet!” she said. She ran into the house to tell Beaver and Brittney the news. Beaver, who used to cook for the restaurant they owned in Pennsylvania, was in the middle of getting meat from the cooler to make dinner. “Listen to this, when the guys came to save us, I go to my husband, we’re getting out of here! And he says, ‘Oh no, I’m not going, I’m about to barbecue.’ I mean he used to be a cook, and we had enough food to feed the whole city. And he’s cutting up this gigantic New York strip steak on the counter. I said, ‘Oh no, leave that F-ing meat! We’re getting out of here if I have to push you down the steps!’ Oh please.” And with that they packed up a couple bags. It turned out that New York Times reporter Patricia Mazzei and photographer Johnny Milano were trailing members of Project Dynamo and they accompanied the Stasi family during the rescue. The story made the front page of the Sunday edition of the Times on October 2. The summer sun was beginning to set and the 29-foot boat was moored at least two miles away. With their luggage full of what they had salvaged from their storm-whipped home — and their blind cat, Boo — they walked along Bailey Road, took a left on Sanibel’s main road, Periwinkle Way, and headed for the intersecting canals on the east end of the island. It was dark when they arrived at the boat on Limpet Drive. With Captain Judge James of Project Dynamo at the helm, they crossed San Carlos Bay to the landing point at Port Sanibel Marina on the Fort Myers side. Beaver had an injured leg and the men from the Cajun Army helped him up to the dock. “They were big guys,” said Lisa. “They were amazing, they took care of my husband like he was a baby. On the ride over we were going so fast I swear I thought I was going to fall over the freakin’ boat! But I was so happy, you don’t know.” At the marina she called Courtney, who could hardly believe her ears when she heard her mother’s voice.
50 – Hurricane Ian Photo by Jimmy Anderson Aerial of West Gulf Drive
Surviving the Storm – 51 “Honestly, I almost dropped the phone, I was so relieved,” said Courtney. She and her husband jumped in their car and drove 45 minutes through streets with hardly any operating traffic lights to get them. At Port Sanibel Marina they hugged and all piled into the car. It was late when they got back to the house. The newlyweds gave up their master bedroom to Courtney’s parents and the ordeal was over — but also just beginning: the reconstruction of their home and return to Sanibel would take months and months. AT THE DUNES: Stasi family home in The Dunes, a golf-course neighborhood on Sanibel near the Causeway Photos by Brittney Stasi This was their second, not first, housing catastrophe. When they lived in Pennsylvania their home burned down in a fire while they were on holiday in the Dominican Republic. “Somehow we lived through another tragedy,” said Lisa. “It was funny because a friend of mine called me a few days after the hurricane and said, “So, you’re not too good with houses.” It reminded me of this show I saw once about a guy who had something crazy happen to each house he lived in. So I’m wondering, is that going to be us? I mean who’s going to want to live next to us?”
52 – Hurricane Ian The human mind can get very creative when it looks like a tidal wave is about to carry your home away into the sea. Doug and Melanie Congress, residents on Sanibel Island since 1994, came up with one especially memorable escape vehicle from the rising waters of the Gulf of Mexico: they refashioned the teak bench from their porch into a raft. “Yup,” said Doug. “That was how we planned to survive Hurricane Ian.” For prior hurricanes they packed up and left the island with their son Josh and daughters Kelsey and Georgia. But with their children living on their own, and never having seen a storm surge on Sanibel Island during their lifetime, Doug and Melanie decided to stay. Their well-built home on the east end of the island, situated near Loggerhead Cay, stood 15-feet above sea level and had a strong roof and impact glass windows. “In the morning we were kind of joking that we had a front row seat for the hurricane,” said Doug, “but then a friend texted me about the city’s cam video at the corner of Lindgren Boulevard and East Gulf Drive. That’s when I knew we had a problem. The water was already up to the red part of the Stop sign.” The water was soon flooding into their yard and starting to climb their stairs. Plan A was to create an improvised staircase to get to their attic. They started stacking up furniture but after about 45 minutes abandoned the idea. Next came Plan B and the teak bench. They felt confident in their roof and storm windows, but the gale force winds were slamming the pilings so violently that they felt their home might collapse or tip over. They decided to make preparations for a potential exit from the house mid-storm. Their eyes fell on the bench they had hauled in earlier that morning. Made of wood, they figured it would float and be their best option if they were forced out into the torrent of water. They dumped out their 5-gallon jugs of water and lashed them to the bench to serve as buoys. Doug created a mini-chain of three belts that he envisioned using as a rope, if needed. They dragged the bench to the slider at the back of the home and Melanie began packing a knapsack with money, “In the moring we were kind of joking that we had a front row seat for the huricane. But then a friend texted me about the city’s cam video at the corner of Lindgren and East Gulf. That’s when I knew we had a problem.” – Doug Congress Doug and Melanie Congress STORM STORIES Doug and Melanie Congress
Surviving the Storm – 53 ID cards, and clothes. Then there was the question of Wrigley, their 75-pound Golden Retriever. Melanie got his leash. “We were not going to leave our dog behind,” she said. “The adrenaline was there, we kept thinking, ‘How are we going to get out of this? What are we going to do?’” The afternoon was spent pacing around the house and keeping ready for a quick escape. Doug shot video footage to document the event and keep his mind occupied. They watched as water rose to the top of their home’s steps. Late in the day they were relieved when the water began to recede, but remained on high alert because they believed they were on the so-called “dirty side of the hurricane” and heard reports on the radio about a possible second storm surge. They lay down to rest in the evening, but were fully dressed and had their shoes ready at the foot of the bed. The next morning Doug got up to search for his brother, Scot, who lived in the center of the island near family store, Congress Jewelers. With a machete in his hand, he cut his way through brush and stayed clear of power lines. There was a strange “hurricane smell” in the air of mud and sand from the Gulf, palm fronds, and property debris. On the route up Periwinkle Way he met an islander who told him the Sanibel Causeway had been knocked out. “That’s when the enormity of it sunk in,” said Doug. “It was extremely emotional.” He continued on and by a stroke of fortune came across his brother standing on the sidewalk talking with Billy Kirkland, the owner of Billy’s Bikes. Doug and Scot then went together to check on Congress Jewelers inside Periwinkle Place shopping plaza. The store has been serving residents and vaccationers on the islands since their father founded it in 1982. They were relieved to see the vault had survived the storm. He circled back home by taking the route of Casa Ybel to Middle Gulf Drive to East Gulf Drive. He saw an alligator in Trader’s parking lot, gopher tortoises everywhere, a snake, bicycles flung on the mud-caked pavement, cars upside down, and palm trees snapped like toothpicks. The evening after the storm, as the situation stabilized, they joined friends Kirk and Lisa Williams on the beach near the Lighthouse for the strangest sunset picnic they ever had. THE RAFT: The makeshift raft constructed during the storm inlcuding makeshift flotation, leash and backpack. Photo by Jim Anderson Photo courtesy of Doug and Mealnie Congress Damaged bridge over a Sanibel canal
54 – Hurricane Ian Bailey’s General Store There is one island business that can truly say it knows how to rebuild after a hurricane. Bailey’s has weathered all the natural calamities that have battered Sanibel since the 19th century, including the hurricanes of the 1920s which saturated the island’s tomato fields with salt and ended commercial agriculture on Sanibel. Descendants of the original Bailey family run the store still, making it the oldest family-owned and managed business on Sanibel Island and one of the oldest in Florida. The first store, opened in 1899 as the Sanibel Packing Company on a wharf on the Gulf of Mexico, washed away during the 1926 hurricane. “Water covered the islands and my grandad (Francis P. Bailey) remembered holding his father’s belt as they proceeded through the waist high water on Bailey Road to check on the store,” said Calli Johnson, who works with her family to run Bailey’s and The Island Store on Captiva. The store built after 1926 is now an anchor exhibit at the Sanibel Historical Museum. Hurricane Ian cycled down Tarpon Bay Road from the Gulf and severely damaged Bailey’s General Store and the entire plaza of retail shops. The wind broke through the roof, the Gulf waters rose six feet inside. The interior of the store was so heavily damaged by flood waters that the family owner/operators wanted to prevent this from happening again by elevating the shopping center. Bailey’s, the ground floor store, will be demolished — such a familiar sight to residents and tourists at the intersection of Tarpon Bay Road and Periwinkle Way — and construction work will begin on a shopping center elevated well above sea level that will honor the history and character of the cornerstone business. The family continued grocery operations in aftermatch of the storm on Captiva , where they run The Island Store. They hosted the Waterline Wine Auction at the destroyed remains of Bailey’s Center to aid community healing, support business operations and benefit community nonprofits. Owner and General Manager Richard Johnson became Mayor of Sanibel in 2023, continuing the tradition of leadership and service that began with Frank Bailey and followed with his sons Francis and Sam. THE FAMILY BUSINESS: Bailey’s General Store has been family-run since 1899. The 3rd and 4th generations continue the tradition with Calli, Richard, Mead, Dane, and Bailie Johnson. COMMUNITY SERVICE: After Bailey’s was decimated by the storm, they provided parking space for recovery operations Photo courtesy of Bailey’s General Store Photo by Jim Anderson
Surviving the Storm – 55 SECOND GENERATION: Francis and Sam Bailey. The original Bailey’s General Store was located on a wharf and received goods by ferry “The hardest part of recovering from the storm is losing our wonderful staff and not being able to support the community in the ways we usually would. We look forward to staff returning when we reopen and we look forward to welcoming our customers back to Bailey’s.” — Calli Johnson Photo courtesy of Bailey’s General Store
56 – Hurricane Ian Bailey’s General Store Before Demolition
Surviving the Storm – 57 After Demolition
58 – Hurricane Ian Rachel Pierce Art Gallery I n the months following Hurricane Ian commerce was dead. All the shopping plazas were wrecked; restaurants were closed; retail had ceased to exist. Into the void stepped art gallery owner Rachel Pierce. She opened up the space in front of her store to other island merchants and created an open air market visible to drivers on Periwinkle Way. The homespun market was one of the very first signs that Sanibel Island would come back. It created economic momentum and lifted the morale of islanders looking for a bit of good news. “The day trippers who came out to the market were really enthusiastic and gave us so much encouragement,” said Rachel. “They came on the island with the purpose of spending money to support local businesses, and it was just what we needed.” Suncatcher’s Dream, Tuttles and Pandora’s Box were among the longstanding island companies who were able to kick start operations while their own stores were being renovated. The market ran from 10 am to 2 pm but on days with a lot of foot traffic they stayed until as late as 6 pm. When the Farmer’s Market opened nearby in the parking lot at Jerry’s Supermarket, Rachel added Sunday to expand to seven days per week. “I will forever be grateful for how Rachel Pierce wrapped her arms around the local island shops, creating an island market venue while we rebuilt,” said Dan Thompson, owner of Suncatcher’s Dream. “Not just for us to have an income but for us to reconnect and heal. Rachel embodies exactly what makes this island family of Sanibel so special. We are Sanibel stronger together.” Rachel and her husband and four children evacuated Sanibel for the hurricane and stayed at their mother’s home in Estero. They lost power and all communication and it was not until her sister called from Texas that she knew the Sanibel Causeway had been torn apart. “I told the kids to pack for two days,” said Pierce. “I only brought a swimsuit and a pair of pyjamas. Two of the kids didn’t even bring their shoes!” Her husband took a boat to Sanibel the following day to salvage what he could from the gallery, but there was little to save. The gallery and apartment above would need to be gutted and remodeled. He spent the night, helping neighbors pull out drywall and remove debris. As a News Anchor for NBC-2 in Southwest Florida for many years, Pierce had interviewed on air many people who had survived one type of disaster or another. Now she and her family found themselves living through one themselves. “Whenever i would cover a storm and talk to people, I would always think, ‘How in the world are they going to make it? How can they lose everything and start over?’ Well, here we were and we were doing it. You just live day by day and keep going. We knew from the first moment we wanted to return to Sanibel, there was never a thought about moving somewhere else. It’s a simple life and a magical place.” – Rachel Pierce
Surviving the Storm – 59 Left: Outdoor Wares; Right: Rachel and Dan Thompson of Suncatcher’s Dream at open air market After the Storm Before the Storm Photo by Jim Anderson Photo by Jim Anderson Top photos courtesy of Rachel Pierce
60 – Hurricane Ian Clinic for the Rehabilitation Of Wildlife Sanibel is home to one of the leading wildlife hospitals in the nation and a hurricane presents it with probably the most complicated evacuation task of any organization on the islands. It is much more than boarding up facilities and removing staff to secure locations — they had to figure out a way to evacuate more than 160 animals in various stages of rehab and try to care for them and keep them alive during the process. With such a logistical operation on their hands the call was made early — on September 26, two days before the hurricane made landfall, the staff at the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) throttled into gear and began transporting animals off Sanibel. Patients in the most critical condition were transferred to several wildlife hospitals on the east coast of Florida. The Noah’s Ark-style exit before the coming flood included hawks, owls, pelicans, opossums, and many other species. Orphaned baby mammals such as squirrels needed round the clock feeding and staff managed to keep up with the schedule in unconventional clinic settings: they practiced wildlife medicine in apartments, garages, guest bedrooms and hotel rooms as the storm gathered, hit and knocked out power. When the news came across the wire of the damage to the Sanibel Causeway, CROW placed the animals in their care with Seaside Seabird Sanctuary, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and Florida Keys Wildlife Center, among others. Locally, staff worked closely with BluePearl Pet Hospital in Fort Myers to treat new patients. On October 13 a crew from SCCF ferried CROW staff members across the bay in a research vessel. At the hospital they picked up medical supplies and Assistant Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager Katie Mueller rescued an orphaned raccoon on the property. While the hurricane caused minimal damage to CROW’s buildings, the outdoor enclosures took on the most damage. Before the storm, these 18 outdoor enclosures were each built specifically for certain species to aid in the last phase of their rehabilitation journey. After the storm only 6 useable enclosures remained, causing patients to continue being transferred to partnering rehabilitation clinic to finish their final stages of recovery. “The outpouring of support to continue CROW’s mission in spite of Hurricane Ian’s wrath is amazing,” said Alison Charney Hussey, CROW’s Executive Director. “The team is so humbled and blessed to have the support of our community both here and from afar.” CROW treats over 200 species of native and migratory wildlife in Southwest Florida, including Green Sea Turtles
Surviving the Storm – 61 HAVE ANIMALS, WILL TRAVEL GARAGES, HOTEL ROOMS AND HELICOPTERS: CROW improvised to keep patient care going in the aftermarth of the hurricane Photos courtesy of CROW
62 – Hurricane Ian Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation The Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF) is known for its ecologically valuable tracts of land situated across the islands, but over the years it has developed quite a range of tangible assets. These assets have helped it manage their wildlife habitat, monitor the water quality around the islands, provide housing for interns and visiting scientists, educate school-age children and welcome the public. The financial ability of SCCF to build out these assets reflects how enthusiastically islanders have gotten behind their mission. Hurricane Ian left its mark on almost all of SCCF’s infrastructure. Student intern housing took the biggest hit and had to be completely rebuilt. The Marine Lab took a foot and a half of water, which damaged sophisticated water quality sensor equipment. The Sanibel Sea School, acquired in 2019 and located on the east end of the island, received two feet of water and lost most of its contents. The historic Bailey Homestead, located in the middle of the island across from Donax Street, fared well despite three feet of water. Built in the 19th century, much of its original solid wood floors remained intact. The lack of modern drywall and insulation worked in its favor after the storm waters ebbed away. The best news for SCCF was that the Wildlife & Habitat Management building, situated atop “Hammerhead Hill,” protected their fleet of vehicles from harm. SCCF cars, ATVs and ITVs proved incredibly valuable during the response in the first days after the storm. They were used by local organizations and federal agencies in search and rescue operations and to help manage the crisis on the islands. SCCF owns and oversees 2,000 acres on the islands. The winds from Hurricane Ian snapped trees and uprooted tropical vegetation, but the most significant event was the massive influx of salt water. SEA SCHOOL: SCCF staff clearing out debris at the Sanibel Sea School. Opposite: Intern housing at SCCF was obliterated during the storm.
Surviving the Storm – 63 “Whenever i would cover a storm and talk to people, I would always think, ‘How in the world are they going to make it? How can they lose everything and start over?’ Well, here we were and we were doing it. You just live day by day and keep going. We knew from the first moment we wanted to return to Sanibel, there was never a thought about moving somewhere else. It’s a simple life and a magical place.”
64 – Hurricane Ian “The biggest impact was the shift of the island’s interior freshwater wetlands to a salt water marsh,” said Executive Director James Evans. “Bodies of water like the Sanibel Slough went from freshwater to salt water in a single afternoon.” Many freshwater fish such as bass were killed by the combination of salt and the convulsions of the storm. The Sanibel River and the streams of fresh water crisscrossing the landscape made Sanibel unique among barrier islands in Florida. This created habitat for fish, turtles and other tropical species who thrive in freshwater. SCCF will be documenting how many of these species survive the transition and monitoring the salinity of the water. Over time Sanibel is expected to return to its status as a fresh water oasis. Ian was not the first storm to deluge the island with salt water. In 1926 a hurricane swamped Sanibel’s booming agricultural business and brought farming to an end. In the 1920s tomatoes were purchased in wooden crates stamped “Sanibel” in cities such as New York and Boston along the eastern seaboard. Farmers moved off Sanibel to grow crops on the mainland and the population of the islands dropped to an estimated 80 people. Many of the spectacular birds Sanibel is known for — Roseate Spoonbills, Brown Pelicans, Osprey — flew off in advance of the storm and have since returned. SCCF discovered in the months after the hurricane that 4 of 7 Eagle nests had been reestablished. Rather amazingly, Wildlife Biologist Aubrey Albrecht was able to confirm that a banded Brown Pelican (designated 78Z) who had survived getting coated in oil during the Deepwater Horizon Spill in Louisiana 2010 had also survived Hurricane Ian. SCCF staff had sighted the bird in the Australian Pines near Casa Ybel Resort every year since 2018 and were wondering if they would see the creature again after Ian. “All but one of those pines were lost in the storm, but we were thrilled to find 78Z standing on the beach in front of Casa Ybel in January on our monthly shorebird survey,” said Albrecht. The Sea Turtle program at SCCF is known as one of the best worldwide and Sanibel Island is a prized habitat. During the summer of 2022, SCCF identified and monitored 786 Sea Turtle nests and recorded the emergence of 35,803 hatchlings. Most hatched during June and July so by the time Ian arrived in late September there were only 17 active nests left. The number of destroyed houses, commercial properties and Gulf front condos turned Sanibel into protracted construction zone, but it was only a fraction of the damage that would have occurred if the islands had not incorporated in 1974 to cap development. With 70% of Sanibel made up of conservation land, the property loss was far less than it might have been. “I can’t imagine what the island would have looked like if there had been the thirty or forty thousands units built on Sanibel as the county had envisioned,” said Evans. “The conservation acreage made our barrier island better able to bounce back after Ian.”
Surviving the Storm – 65 WATER QUALITY: SCCF took water samples around Tarpon Bay to evaluate the impact of the hurricane on the marine habitat
66 – Hurricane Ian RESCUE AND REPAIR: SCCF Executive Director James Evans nails down tarp. Staff members recover damaged assets. Opposite: Sanibel Lighthouse in the aftermath of the storm.
Surviving the Storm – 67
68 – Hurricane Ian J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, which manages the nationwide network of refuges, took the sharp end of the rope the day after the hurricane. Law Enforcement Officers from Louisiana and other states in the Southeast landed on Sanibel Island the day after the hurricane and started work clearing 25 miles of road. Using heavy equipment stored on the island and brought over on barge, they opened up Sanibel-Captiva Road and made it possible for rescue workers to find those who had rode out the storm. J.N. “Ding” Darling team members, some of whom needed to be rescued from their own homes in Fort Myers, soon followed. Supervisory Refuge Ranger Toni Westland was among a group departing the mainland from Port Sanibel Marina by boat. “It was so weird, so eerie, to boat past the Causeway and not see a single car on it,” said Westland. “This was a big game changer from Hurricane Charley. I just couldn’t believe it when I heard the Causeway had blown out.” It only got stranger as she arrived at Tarpon Bay Explorers: the 42-foot passenger boat was caught in a tree on land. They continued on to the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge, located on Sanibel-Captiva Road. The administrative offices of the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society–Friends of the Refuge on the ground floor were destroyed, but the elevated Visitor & Education Center stood intact except for marginal roof damage. There was no water intrusion anywhere in the building and the emergency air condoning unit kicked in, preserving the exhibits in a pristine environment. “I was so happy to see it standing,” said Westland. “It is a bunker of a structure. In fact, it serves as an emergency shelter for The Sanibel School if they ever need it during a crisis.” Elsewhere on the 6,500-acre property the torrid winds smashed up intern housing, the maintenance facility, and the boardwalk for the Indigo Trail. Wildlife Drive sustained extensive damage. Nearly one-mile of the roadway washed out and there was a complete loss of multiple birding platforms, boardwalks, and trails. At the end of Wildlife Drive the bridge leading to a neighborhood of 22 homes known as Calusa Shores had been obliterated. In the months following the hurricane J.N. “Ding” Darling staff put aside their usual duties and got their hands dirty in the demolition of ruined office space, knocking down drywall and ripping out carpets. On April 4, 2023 “Ding” Darling reopened to the public with a ribbon cutting for a large gathering of 686 people.
Surviving the Storm – 69 FEDERAL RESPONSE: Sanibel’s refuge staff led a large team of federal workers to restore “Ding” Darling.
70 – Hurricane Ian Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum operates out of a sturdy concrete building but it experienced twin disasters during the storm: over 5 feet of flooding into the ground floor area where the aquariums are kept and a massive 20-foot hole in the roof. Museum director Sam Ankerson arrived on the island by boat with a handful of staff members on October 2, 2022 to see how the museum had fared. Approximately 80% of the marine animals were lost due to floodwaters and loss of power, including the Giant Pacific Octopus, and most of the aquarium equipment had been destroyed. They did manage to save most of the local mollusks and a group of south Pacific cuttlefish. Before the storm the museum was home to 350 live animals from 60 different species. “It was really, really intense the first day back,” said Ankerson. The shell collection, with half a million specimens, is regarded as one of the best of its kind in the world. Some of it was stationed under the damaged portion of the roof but they were able to relocate it to a safer area. “Our collection is a truly irreplaceable asset and we were relieved to find it in good condition with only a few minor losses,” said Ankerson. Shells of course are probably the best designed material in nature to handle salt water. The work crew gutted over 40% of the museum’s building. Incredibly, they had power, water and internet restored by November 2, a little over a month after the hurricane landed. Giant Pacific Octupus photo courtesy of Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum
Surviving the Storm – 71 Photo by Dr. Jóse H. Leal The Great Hall of Shells was drenched by a water breach
First responders surveying the scene near Time Square during rescue operations
Surviving the Storm – 73 Fort Myers Beach Fort Myers Beach was, if possible, even more vulnerable to a monster hurricane than Sanibel. A slim ribbon of Florida sand and earth, Fort Myers Beach meets the Gulf of Mexico on its western side and bayside canals on its eastern flank. The sparkling waters that made it a vacationer’s paradise became unleashed with unexpected fury on hurricane day. Starting in the early 1950s, Fort Myers Beach took shape one small wooden house at a time. It became known as an Old Florida time capsule of cottages and fish shacks. In the decades to follow concrete block condos sprung up along the Gulf, making the barrier island a mix of quaint houses and modern luxury buildings. All that changed in one afternoon. Few hometowns in the history of the United States have had so many of its properties flattened and taken out to sea. The day after the storm many of its narrow streets had just one or two homes still standing. The hurricane transformed rows of houses into rows of vacant lots. On the Sunday after the storm Fort Myers Beach was sealed off from the public so search and rescue could remove the dead bodies in privacy. STILL STANDING: Some Gulf-front condos survived while many of the vintage cottages washed away. Photo by Jimmy Anderson
Surviving the Storm – 75 ON ITS SIDE: This white cottage with green window frames got knocked sideways but fared better than many other wooden houses SEE THROUGH: Most of this seaside property, left, ended up as debris on Estero Boulevard
76 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 77 Fort Myers Beach Pier
78 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 79 OPEN ENDED: Walls shredded from a Fort Myers Beach home Opposite page: Salvage work on a building in Times Square Photo by Jimmy Anderson
80 – Hurricane Ian SHIPWRECK: Shrimp boats and other ships massed together Shrimp Boats Before The Storm
82 – Hurricane Ian Pink Shell Pink Shell engineer John Scates was patrolling the grounds of the resort on the morning of the storm. Over the years he had weathered three hurricanes at Pink Shell and wasn’t especially worried. The main building, White Sands, was built like a fortress and stood nine floors above sea level. Then he saw the water starting to stream along Estero Boulevard. “Before I could get back to the resort it was up to my knees and I couldn’t believe how hard it was to walk against the current,” said Scates. He made it up a flight of stairs and from a guest room on the second floor witnessed the arrival of Hurricane Ian on Fort Myers Beach. “I watched the tiki huts on the beach disappear,” he said. “They got knocked over like dominoes. Then the pool fencing started to break down. ‘I’m saying to myself, Hmmm, this is different. This might be more than I thought it was going to be.’” The water continued to rise into the early afternoon and the small detail of staff members moved up to the 3rd floor as an extra precaution. At one point Scates saw his pick-up truck float by upside down. “I thought, man, that thing was paid for!” The building held up to the Category 5 winds, but Scates knew most of Fort Myers Beach would not do so well. In the evening, as the winds died down, he exited White Sands to survey the damage. “It was just weird being outside that night,” he said. “I looked toward Sanibel and I never saw it so dark. All our equipment was upside down. I noticed our cottages were gone. I found out later that a lady down the road saw our cottages go by her place. The Fort Myers Beach I knew as a kid in the 1970s was gone and would never come back.” Pink Shell GM Bill Wachulis and his son got access to Fort Myers Beach the next day and helped evacuate staff. Senior executives met to develop a massive salvage project involving four restoration companies and hundreds of workers. FLAG FLYING: Pink Shell Resort during rebuilding phase MANY HATS: Pink Shell Front Desk Manager Denise Durelli switched from the reception area to the construction site after the storm
Surviving the Storm – 83 Before the Storm
84 – Hurricane Ian Front Desk Manager Denise Durrelli was one of a handful of key Pink Shell employees called on to return to the resort on the Friday after the storm. Just a few days earlier Durelli had welcomed guests into the luxurious lobby with glass windows looking out on the sea; now she was wearing a construction helmet and entering a disaster zone. She remembers sitting in a pick-up truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot on San Carlos Boulevard with other Pink Shell staff. “We were waiting to get over Matanzas Bridge and and we saw ambulances heading away from the Beach with lights on and no sound. I asked someone who used to be an EMT what that meant. He said it was because there was a body inside and turning off the siren was out of respect for the dead. We must have seen 4 or 5 ambulances leave The Beach that way.” As they drove over the bridge they could see the Gulf of Mexico but the Fort Myers Beach pier was gone — the only remnants were concrete stakes jutting out of the sand and water. Times Square was pulverized. “It was surreal seeing all that damage,” said Durrelli. “The Winds tourist shop had all its windows blown in. There were sheriffs with dogs. You saw emergency vehicles with Louisiana and Texas plates. You look down Estero Boulevard and can see open views of the Gulf and Bay where there used to be homes. At Bowditch Point Park there was a boat stuck in a couple of palm trees. ” At the Pink Shell they saw the main buildings intact: the 9-floor White Sands, the 7-floor Sanibel View and the 5-floor Captiva Villas. But the roof had been damaged and all rooms would require demolition. The cottages were gone. The resort pool with the giant Octopus replica was in ruins and Bongo’s Bar was unrecognizable. The stairwells were filled with twisted POOL CLOSED: The pool was drained and the decks repaired MEDIA COVERAGE Events at Pink Shell were one of the top stories for local media Opposite page Pink Shell Interior
Surviving the Storm – 85 metal and AC units. Pink Shell property would later be found in areas as far away as Pine Island Sound and Bunche Beach. Now in the role of a security guard, Durrelli assisted in the largest restoration project ever conducted on Fort Myers Beach. Each day as sunrise broke over the Gulf approximately 200 workers set to work on the rooms and common areas. They pulled out carpet, remediated mold, repaired the roofs, installed new electrical wiring and all the other tasks that go into an operation of its size. One worker told Durrelli that he had not seen a town so busted up since his tour of military duty in Afghanistan. A special team spirit developed as the work went on. “I was so grateful to be asked to be part of the restoration,” said Durrelli. “I would have done anything they asked me to do. And the Pink Shell staff was amazing, we all worked so hard to bring the resort back.” Pink Shell became a FEMA-designated housing facility for approximately 60 displaced residents of Fort Myers Beach in the second week of December. In March of 2023 the resort was once again opened to guests. The Pink Shell started as a single cottage in 1950. Over time it came to occupy 12 acres of prime beachfront property. Brothers Robert and Jack Boykin purchased Pink Shell in 1997 and invested an estimated $70 million to make it a five-star resort. In 2013 construction was completed on 41 floating docks for boaters who want to pull in to dine or spend the night at the resort.
86 – Hurricane Ian BEFORE
Surviving the Storm – 87Photo by Jimmy Anderson
88 – Hurricane Ian Dairy Queen Sanibel
Surviving the Storm – 89 Photo by Jimmy Anderson
90 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 91 Photo by Jimmy Anderson Sanibel Marina
92 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 93
94 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 95 AFRICAN SULCATA TORTOISE: “I went to the island by boat a week after Ian and we were biking down Periwinkle Way and saw this giant African Sulcata tortoise walking towards us down the middle of the road. SCCF showed up out of nowhere and picked him up and took him off the island. We found out on Facebook later that the tortoise had been reunited with his owners and they lived over on South Yachtsman Drive so he probably floated away during the surge because he was almost to Bailey's. –– Haley Keller
96 – Hurricane Ian
Surviving the Storm – 97
98 – Hurricane Ian