Captiva, Sanibel, Bookeelia

[GalvestonDuck]

When I watched nbc-2.com's coverage, I remember them mentioning Charley's path over Sanibel and the Sanibel Causeway, Captiva, and Bookeelia before entering Charlotte Harbor. But now, I have yet to hear how those areas fared. I heard rumors about Captiva being totally underwater due to the surge, about numerous deaths on Sanibel, and about the causeway being destroyed. But that was so soon after landfall that there's no way those reports could have necessarily been verified already.

Anybody heard? I'm mostly hearing about Punta Gorda on the news. But I'm sure those areas were affected also.

[BEER980]

I have watched the video's from the news chopper and there is a lot of damage. Flooding did not seem to be a problem on the Islands but it was hard to tell from the air. They did show the new 400 yard cut through the island as well.

[LCfromFL]

There were reports last night that Captiva now has a new channel running through it - and is essentially two islands now. I didn't actually SEE those reports - just 'heard' about them...so not sure if they are true or not.

[Brent]

North Captiva is now two islands. I was watching NBC Fort Myers when their chopper flew over and could see it. That's the only thing I can confirm. There's a rumor Sanibel has been split in two. I have not heard about deaths. Almost everyone evacuated off those islands.

[wolffeeder]

Last night they showed a video of Max Mayfield and one of the TV weather dudes flying over the islands. Evidently they did get a lot of storm surge flooding, they were using bulldozers to scrape the sand off the roads, even as far south as Fort Myers Beach. I was surprised at how good a few of the buildings looked, at least from the air. A few, especially from Sanibel south, looked fine, had intact roofs and walls and all. By Captiva pretty much everything looked in rough shape, but most if not all that I saw were still standing after a fashion. On Captiva there were big swaths where all the trees were laying down, and the ground was sand colored. They also saw people evidently trying to drive off Captiva, two cars, along the beach. I guess the roads were pretty much blocked.

I still haven't heard anything about injuries or deaths from the barrier islands either. Or anything about mass casualties in trailer parks like they were talking about at first for that matter. Mostly we are getting stories about how it's going to take a while to clean up (well duh) or asking people if they are sad their homes are gone (duh again), or how wonderful people in Miami are by sending canned goods and stuff (warm and fuzze feelings).

I hope Cayo Costa is OK, that it reopens fairly soon. Might take a while since fixing campgrounds is probably pretty low on the priorities list. That was an exquisite place to camp.

[Stephanie]

I saw the aerial shots from the helicopter over Sanibel yesterday. Alot of roof damage - on some condos and homes, the roofs were gone. The trees looked like they were flattened in some areas as well. I don't know if they been allowing people back onto the island yet. I heard about Captiva being split into two. Those causeways are not very high off the water and the one from Ft. Myers to Sanibel is only two lanes each way.

There's probably not alot of reports from there because most of the poeple there had the sense to GET OUT.

[KBBOCA]

The NBC-2 news website has some news.

http://www.nbc-2.com/

No one is being allowed back on the islands yet. They are going to do a house-to-house inspection to certify what homes are safe. The causway is apparently still intact and usable. (amazing!) but is not open yet.

Sounds like the much greater damage is on Captiva from what I've read.

[Stephanie]

Thank you KBBOCA for that thread!

[depotoo]

Here is another excellent news source for the entire area -
http://www.news-press.com/index.html

[simplykristi]

Here's the city of Sanibel's website. http://www.mysanibel.com/ (Had a hardware failure so limited info)

Kristi

[snooksan]

I just went to the Sanibel link, and found a few pictures that were taken from there. Thought maybe someone would like to see them...

http://www.mysanibel.com/

[MGC]

Storm surge is the only plausible explanation for the new Captavia cut. Ship Island off the Mississippi coast was cut in two by hurricane Camille and that cut is still there.......MGC

[HurricaneQueen]

Basically, except for emergency personnel, no one is left on Sanibel. A few (about 20) decided to stay but were told to leave immediately after the storm and it was determined that the causeway was safe enough to evacuate. The damage on the north end of the islands (north Captiva, Captiva and parts of Sanibel) was extreme. Fortunately, Sanibel did not get the direct hit as anticipated but the buildings on the Gulf coast suffered the most-facets fell off of condos, roofs gone, etc, etc.

Those on the bay side fared somewhat better with pool cages lost, shingles off, some broken windows and many trees over. I spoke with a friend who lives on Sanibel but who is in PA right now. Her friend who stayed behind was almost to her house after climbing over trees and other debris, when the polcie chief ordered him off the island. So between what I got first hand from her and the excellent local coverage, we have a fairly good idea of where the damage is. The exception is Charlotte Harbor/Punta Gorda area which had the direct hit. Except for aerial photos, not much information is coming out of there due to the extreme damage.

I can't say enough about the local media-between TV and radio we are getting constant information although they did break (NBC) for the Olympics last night and this afternoon. YEAH!!!!

Lynn

[Bane]

The hospitals in Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda were evacuated as well and are not currently being used, according to my mom.

[Stephanie]

Thanks guys for the updates on Sanibel and Captiva.

Hurricane Queen - I'm glad your friends are alright!