Recovery efforts on Sanibel and Captiva after Milton

Author: Annette Montgomery Writer: Annette Montgomery, Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

Crews have opened the Sanibel causeway to everyone, even those without a hurricane re-entry pass, but the city asks that people avoid the island unless they live there or need to travel there for business. 

The reason is that crews still have plenty of work cleaning up debris and restoring power in stages across the island.

In neighboring Captiva, people have similar issues to deal with; No power, flooded roadways and closed businesses.

Neighbors told WINK News the hardest thing they are dealing with right now is having no water. They have no way to flush their toilets and no way to take a shower.

It’s the same thing we saw on Sanibel, neighbors still suffering from the impacts of Milton.

We know this storm was no Hurricane Ian, but the damage is still felt across the islands with homes and businesses taking on water.

The Schulz family got five feet of water in their home during Hurricane Ian and more than eight inches during Milton.

They expected the water to enter their home during Milton, but of course, rebuilding and rebuilding again gets tiring.

“Still got to take out the drywall. We still got to take out two feet with the drywall, and it’s still going to be a mess. A lot of stuff lost, not as bad as Ian, but still going to be, you know, it’s a mess,” said Steven Schulz. “There’s no power. We’re going to get out everything we can, clean it out as best we can, save what we can. If it’s frozen solid, we’ll save it. Otherwise, we’ll ditch everything.”

The Clinic for the Rehabilitation Of Wildlife also experienced flooding and told WINK although they didn’t experience water damage, they still evacuated the island and want to encourage people to take any injured, sick or hurt animals to Bluepearl Pet Hospital in Fort Myers until they come back.

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