Resilient Lee makes plan for next hurricane season

The events and repercussions of Hurricane Ian are still fresh in the minds of Southwest Florida residents.

In a few days, Lee County expects to accept the Resilient Lee Recovery and Resilience plan. The plan will help Lee County plan for the next hurricane.

“It was an opportunity for different stakeholders all over Lee County,” said Holly Smith, a member of the Lee Recovery task force, “whether it’s the municipalities, whether it’s fire, whether it’s Lee Health, housing or natural resources, to come together and kind of look and say, if we have another hurricane like this or any kind of emergency event, what kind of plan can we put in place regionally.”

When another storm pops up, the Resilient Lee recovery and resilience plan is there to help people evacuate on time.

• RELATED: Resilient Lee Task Force approves Hurricane Ian Recovery and Resiliency Plan

“When you’re talking about evacuation routes, the City of Sanibel, we cannot call for a mandatory evacuation until the county calls for a mandatory evacuation because it’s the county that holds the shelters,” said Smith.

Sanibel does not have a shelter on the island with one way in and one way out, so this evacuation route is the only chance for people to get out.

“We do request on a mandatory evacuation that you do leave the island. However, we cannot require that, but I will say, looking at Ian, the people who stayed on this island before, 95% will not stay again,” said Smith.

With 231 pages worth of recovery plan, the county is working to “study the placement of these evacuation routes.” In hopes of having a roadmap for a faster and shorter way for people to get to safety.

The recovery plan will be presented to the Lee County commissioners.

It can be used by cities as a guideline for their own plan or followed directly. The goal of all of this is to be prepared for the next hurricane season.

For more information on Resilient Lee, click here.