Sanibel’s recovery efforts seven months after Hurricane Ian

Friday marks seven months since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, and in that time, many people have gone the extra mile to help others in their community. The Barrier Islands are an exemplary demonstration of that effort.

Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach, in particular, since those communities became almost unrecognizable after overwhelming flooding, damage, and devastation. The remarkable grit and resolve of the people on Sanibel are evident after seeing how the island came back.

The amount of traffic on Sanibel and the Causeway, rebuilt in less than a month after Ian, it’s clear that the people of Sanibel can, and will, do whatever it takes for their community.

After Hurricane Ian, many people wondered how Sanibel and its Causeway would come back and how long would it take?

“Seriously, whenever you say that, it still gives me chills,” Councilmember Holly Smith said.

Friday, for perhaps the first time, we know what happened behind closed doors in the days after Hurricane Ian. In the room, the Mayor of Sanibel at the time, Holly Smith, and Governor Ron DeSantis.

“He turned to me, and he said we’ve got to get that bridge built,” Councilmember Smith said.

Smith, now the former Mayor of Sanibel, loved the governor’s idea but didn’t know how he could get it done.

“In my conversations with the Governor, we were talking about having a Ferry. We didn’t know… it could take months, it could take a year… we didn’t have a timeline, really,” Councilmember Smith said.

It would be an understatement to say they went on a mission.

“Two days later, they started digging that dirt, and four days later, they were able to get the power trucks over,” Councilmember Smith said.

On Oct. 19, 2022, three weeks after Ian washed away two major parts of the Causeway, Desantis announced it would reopen to the public.

“There was about 5,500 cars coming on the island. That was construction workers, residence employees, and things like that. Right now. It’s up to about 8,000 a day,” Marcus Preece, general manager of Cielo, said.

Since the Causeway is open, places like Cielo have sprung new life.

“One of our dumpsters floated out from his cage across the parking lot and was about 10 feet back in the trees,” Preece said.

When he returned to the island, Preece didn’t know if his restaurant would even be standing.

“Just getting dropped off and walking up and down Periwinkle. Everything was brown, the dirt, the mud everywhere. It’s astounding to see,” Preece said.

After the cleanup, and less than two months after the storm hit, Cielo became the first restaurant to open on Sanibel. So people like Keith Isaacson could sit down and enjoy a good meal again.

“The business community has really dug in and gotten things going quickly,” Isaacson said.

WINK News asked if Isaacson would be going anywhere anytime soon.

“No,” Isaacson said emphatically.

Perhaps more incredible than the story of the Sanibel Causeway and the status of local businesses is the stories of the people who rode out that storm on the island and had to fend for themselves and each other to survive. Like the story of Trace Tillo, who had one leg and had to get out of his house surrounded by water and debris before signaling for help.

When the Coast Guard got to Southwest Florida, Tillo was one of the people that needed rescuing.

“I watched out my window ground-level homes go totally underwater,” Tillo said. “I had 15 feet of water and other parts of my property. It was crazy.”

Tillo, who spent his life dedicated to his artistry, had been through every major storm to hit Southwest Florida in the last few decades.

“It was a lot like Charlie, it turned last minute. We were told that it was going to go to Tampa for… every day,” Tillo said.

So, Tillo decided to stick around. And as the water was crashing in on his home, Tillo was fighting to survive. He made it through the night and into the next morning. But, while going through his home…

“Slipping on that damn mud… trying to clean my downstairs,” Tillo said.

He fractured his foot while picking up the pieces of his life.

“I knew I needed to get to the off the island for medical attention,” Tillo said.

And Tillo went on to limp to safety.

“I’m praying out of nowhere a car pulls up right after I was done praying right where a car pulls up out of nowhere. And you can tell the car was under had been underwater. And someone had put in a new starter and a new battery in the car well, and they rolled down the window, and they say, Excuse me, sir, do you need help? And they said notice I’m limping, and I’ve got all these heavy bags. And I said, Yes, that’d be great,” Tillo said.

And seven months later, Sanibel is beginning to look familiar.

After the Causeway reopened, 5,500 people were coming onto the island every day, and now that number has risen to 8,000.

WINK News asked the City of Sanibel what the estimated population on the island is, but because of the number of people that live there part-time, it’s difficult to gauge an accurate number.