Cape Coral homeowner returns to find Elsa ripped up seawall, dock

Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Carmine Zingariello’s seawall and dock at his Cape Coral home were ripped up when Elsa moved up the coast of Southwest Florida in July 2021. Zingariello was at his Massachusetts homes when Elsa was active along the coast and returned to see the damages days after the storm. Credit: WINK News.

Elsa caused great damage to a homeowner’s seawall on his waterfront property.

Carmine Zingariello told us he wasn’t at his Cape Coral home when Elsa brought its outer bands to SWFL and moved up along the coast. He was at his home in Massachusetts when he got a call from his neighbor saying his entire seawall had collapsed.

It was too dangerous to walk on the area that was still damaged Friday. There were huge ruts in Zingariello’s lawn, and his dock was completely submerged underwater.

Zingariello has owned and lived at the property for two years. He told us his seawall has survived bigger storms than Elsa, so he’s scratching his head about how it could’ve happened.

“This should’ve never happened in this house, never,” Zingariello said. “The setup that I have here — pilings, pilings, pilings, big wall and then seawall — this should’ve never folded over, never.”

Zingariello told us he had a boat that was docked at his home during the storm. Thankfully, that’s OK. He says he hired a seawall company that will fix the mess.

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