Ian Recovery On Sanibel

[Sanibel]

I first managed to hitch a ride 7 days after the storm when they let people back on who could arrange their own boat transportation...I lucked out and found a tool in the muck that I could use to improvise for the hurricane shutter manual crank...It took me over an hour to turn the crank with my hands fully extended over my head in the heat but I finally got it raised only to find the door lock frozen by salt water...My only alternative was mountain climbing in the dangerous wreckage with sharp nails and glass etc but I managed to get inside...There were piles of wallboard, studs, rafters, and fiberglass insulation on everything...I took four days of digging in the rubble and removing debris to open the damaged rooms up...I was lucky because the attic and roof collapsed on to my bedroom and after four days of excavating rubble I found most of my stuff in place where it was pinned in place by the wreckage...I dry-boxed my stuff with fresh moving boxes and put it under the good roof sections...I got a FEMA tarp that was so big it took me over an hour just to cut a section out in the cluttered living room to cover the huge hole in the living room caused by the chimney being blown clean off...We are cursed because the chimney was deepest in to the good roof section of the remaining house and allowed hurricane rain to wet the things I put there before Ian...I got the hole tarped on Sunday and it started raining 10 minutes after I finished...Not a drop came in...I then used the remnant and a second tarp to tarp the missing roof areas but there wasn't much left to tarp since Ian blew the east half of the roof clean off...We had an obvious tornado probably from a hot tower in the eyewall...I'm still kind of in shock...Unlike usual, there are plenty of tarps for sale here in Ft Myers because people were blasted so badly they don't have anything left to tarp, their cars are all destroyed, and they can't get back anyway...So I have three more big tarps and am going back to try to mitigate the rain I saw raining through the ceilings Sunday...There was so much that I caught it in buckets and used it to flush the toilet...I need to try to save my mother's Chiffarobe with a tarp since the wall behind it was open to the rain...Going back in tomorrow with another Marine beach landing from a privateer...Adjuster coming monday...Causeway should be open to residents a week from friday...Slippery clay-like demon muck over everything...Most bicycles in the trash piles have flat tires because water pressure in surge is stronger than air pressure in tires and lets the air out...I found a good bike and my neighbor had an auto valve pump and I got it going pretty good as a commandeered bike...The bike made the difference in getting off the island which involved miles of distance...Town took a front end loader and scraped the muck off the roads...Garage and ground storage room surged clean with garage surge blow-out walls gone...

[Buck]

Man, that is tough to read. I'm so sorry for your losses. We joined the forum around the same time about 18 years ago and you've always been one of the most visible posters. I also have a soft spot for Sanibel, as it was my parents' honeymoon location and they took my brother and I there some as kids. Praying that your recovery and rebuild efforts go smoothly, friend.

[blueskies]

Wow Sanibel.

I hope access to the the island will soon be getting easier and that you can get some help with your house and belongings.

Is getting an RV or camper on your property a possibility ?

Please be safe.

[underthwx]

I join everyone in wishing you peace, and a swift recovery Sanibel....be well...

[sunnyday]

Sanibel,
I’m so sorry to learn that your mother passed. Then, to see your home hit by Ian is a lot to deal with. I pray that life settles down for you soon.
Every time over the years that I saw Sanibel on your posts, I was a bit envious that someone got to live in Paradise. I pray that you will be doing just that as soon as possible.
Bless you.
Sunnyday

[Sanibel]

I put up a massive tarp Friday to mitigate the leaking, however there is not much left of the roof to tarp so I'm not sure what good it will do...

Rooms I thought had beaten the hurricane were leaking badly when I was there for the first rain on the 9th...The rains since have caused bad water damage to the rooms I thought we could save...I'm afraid we're taking on too much water and the ship will sink...May be time to transfer the flag...This is frustrating since I put so much work in to saving the house and it is depressing...

Going back out with a PA tomorrow (Private Adjuster)...

Might need help posting images...

[PandaCitrus]

The biggest problem will be the black mold. No A/C for weeks or months in the Florida climate is going to force most homes with water intrusion to be gutted from the inside so I'm not sure if the tarps will matter in the end. The other issue is the FEMA 50% rule. I don't know if your home is up to code and current flood elevation but they will force you to raise your house or do a tear down if damage is more than 50% of the value and sounds like it may be.

[Sanibel]

We were built to surge code in 1987 on 13 foot pilings...


There were two coconuts on the top step on the porch stairs...That step is 11 feet off the ground so the only thing that could have deposited them there would have been surge...11 feet at the house is around 16 feet at the beach - which is incredible and the surge came to within a foot of the living area...A 16 foot surge is a killer surge...

[PandaCitrus]

That's incredible surge. I think the preliminary maximum surge they've found in Fort Myers Beach was so far at 15.5 feet so sounds like you got around the maximum surge from Ian in your location.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/202 ... 490240002/

If your house is at the current flood elevation, there's a good chance you can save it. I would definitely get a structural engineer to look at those pilings for a 35 year old house. Safety has to come first in these decisions. I wish you the best of luck with the insurance and I'm sorry this has happened to your lovely home. Whatever happens, I hope you build back better and look at the Miami-Dade building code to make sure your house is in the best position possible for a future hurricane.

[Sanibel]

4 weeks now and the island is still a disaster zone...The piles of ruined house/business contents are growing and making canyons of the roads as they pile up on either side...There are crews of workers everywhere either doing private debris removal or public vegetation and materials clean-up...There are volunteer groups feeding anyone who shows up with good grilled barbecue and burgers etc...The idea is it will help the clean up as well as residents with no electricity or ability to prepare food...Our Windstorm insurance adjuster will be at the house in a few days...After that I want to Chainsaw the two large trees that fell length-wise down our driveway...The same trees did that during Charley and re-grew only to fall right back in the same place...My next door neighbor had his wall blown off by the same tornado and you can see the inside of his house like a girl's doll house...Spoke to the Lee County Electric Cooperative linemen on my street and they told me the underground equipment is badly corroded by salty surge water and will take weeks to repair...That doesn't affect me because we will never pass inspection for energizing the house...Finally dug out the office, that had the worst roof/attic debris collapse on to it, and salvaged what I could from there...

[Dean_175]

I went to Sanibel in September ( year later) and it was still very messed up. Majority of the beachfront property unoccupied. Very few places to shop. And of course the vegetation still looks hit hard.

[addyj76ers]

So sorry for your losses - I hope everything will get better