Hurricane Ian and Lee County, Florida

[Milo1974]

I know that there were related threads on here about this, but they've been pushed way way way way way down. I thought I would resurrect.


I've been an on-and-off Lee County resident since 2000. I've lived here all of the time since Fall 2017.


It really is that bad.


Our neighborhood (200-250 households) is pretty lucky in that although we are relatively close to the coast, we're on an only slightly perceptible hill that you'd only notice if you were a surveyor and there was nothing on the land. The neighborhood has specially-designed streets to make for superior drainage, on top of that. It would take a storm surge of, I think, at least 14 feet before there would be any water whatsoever in our houses. On top of that, yes, there is a Homeowner's Association, and those can be a pain in the butt, but ours isn't too bad. One rule is about the type of trees that we can have in our yard. There's a palm tree in pretty much every yard, but few of them are over say 20-25 feet high and are at the edge of our lawns and pose minimal damage list. We're certainly not a gated community and the houses here are modest-sized - just smartly planned.


Our neighborhood was without power for just over 4 days. So we were relatively lucky. The boil water notice we are under could persist for perhaps weeks, I am guessing.


However, out of a county with 700,000+ residents, tens of thousands, if not over 100,000, have had their lives changed in a pretty major way.


The richest area of Lee County - Sanibel and Captiva Islands - was devastated. About 7000 people. The causeway to the island has been destroyed. Only boat or helicopter access now and this is probably the way it will be for a year or two. Fort Myers Beach, also on an island, is largely the same - don't think their bridge was totally destroyed, but all residents have been ordered off and it is being treated as one giant crime scene for each deceased person. This is another few thousand people. And there is up to a few feet of sand in many of those houses now.


Downtown Fort Myers was severely flooded - it was right on the Caloosahatchee River/Harbor just a few miles inland from the Gulf - a lot of water was pushed up there. They're going to be dealing with major structural repairs for a while.


It is going to be YEARS before SouthWest Florida is going to be the same, if it ever really is the same. In terms of loss of human life, this was not anywhere near as bad as, say, Katrina, but in terms of structural damage to an area, it is actually worse.


At the Federal and State level, people were given adequate warning time and enough shelters were opened. It's not the government's fault.


But personally, I am in shock at what has happened. This should send out some "wake up calls" of sorts, but I don't know that they will actually be heeded.

[OffwhiteBrah]

Orlando brah here, we got off with some rain and wind but we i've seen the devastation to SWFL. This one was just horrible, keeping you all in my thoughts. Also made a thread about Lee country sheriffs yesterday, they don't seem to fuk around.

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...post1668805793

[GainzMcgee]

The spirit of Jose Gaspar protects Tampa from hurricanes.

Had a nice 3 days off work, was cool outside too. Long live Gaspar!

[envisu]

Destin brah here, had blue skies, no humidity and light wind hngnngnggg. Although the destruction from Michael is still very evident when you drive through Panama City. Hurricane complacency not even once.

[Milo1974]

Orlando brah here, we got off with some rain and wind but we i've seen the devastation to SWFL. This one was just horrible, keeping you all in my thoughts. Also made a thread about Lee country sheriffs yesterday, they don't seem to fuk around.

They aren't even 1% messing around. I've never really felt like this place was my home, but one thing I give to them is that Lee County seems to me to be run pretty well. I've felt this way for a long time. If they say that they have ZERO tolerance for looters, they mean it.


One thing I forgot to add is that yesterday, Gov. DeSantis said that there have never been as many search-and-rescue personnel/missions in a locale since 9/11 as there are now in SWFL.

[OliverHeldens]

It's crazy to think of Lee County being considered nice nowadays. Last time I was there was like 2007, but it was a complete dump outside of Captiva and Sanibel.

[GainzMcgee]

It's crazy to think of Lee County being considered nice nowadays. Last time I was there was like 2007, but it was a complete dump outside of Captiva and Sanibel.

welp looks like it just got a lot worse LOL

[Milo1974]

It's crazy to think of Lee County being considered nice nowadays. Last time I was there was like 2007, but it was a complete dump outside of Captiva and Sanibel.

Um, by what standards?!?!?!

[suave2000]

It baffles my mind how american architects and builders keep building their houses and everything with chitty 2x4s and chitty wooden frame housing. of course you're going to end up like this:



It's done purely by greed and profit. Half of latin america (even the poor chit regions) is built up with concrete based structures that are much much much much more resitant to natural disasters. Wood frame houses should be illegal in areas prone to natural disasters or fires.

Wooden frame housing NOT EVEN ONCE. If latin americans can build their homes with concrete so can the US.

[GainzMcgee]

Um, by what standards?!?!?!

the "Standard" is that a bunch of boomers moved in and built cardboard boxes next to the ocean.

[OliverHeldens]

Um, by what standards?!?!?!

Admittedly, I haven't been there in 15 years and I'm sure there has been a ton of development since. But the drive from SW Fla airport to Captiva at that time went through some areas that looked like they had long been forgotten.

[naich]

Can you speak of the standing water in areas like North Port or Englewood? Alot of neighborhoods where a canal lines up feet from the street and then a sloping front yard. Saw some drone footage of canal water spread all the way into peoples front doors. Wondering how long until that water subsides to at least driveable conditions.

Pro's and cons of living 10ft above sea level.

[envisu]

It baffles my mind how american architects and builders keep building their houses and everything with chitty 2x4s and chitty wooden frame housing. of course you're going to end up like this:



It's done purely by greed and profit. Half of latin america (even the poor chit regions) is built up with concrete based structures that are much much much much more resitant to natural disasters. Wood frame houses should be illegal in areas prone to natural disasters or fires.

Wooden frame housing NOT EVEN ONCE. If latin americans can build their homes with concrete so can the US.

Just takes one hurricane for attitudes in that are to change tho

[GainzMcgee]

Just takes one hurricane for attitudes in that are to change tho

they can build an entire house out of concrete still wont stop 15ft surges and the water pressure. This portion of this bridge was pure concrete and still crumbled like a cookie. also if you build a house and get 6ft of surge inside you are still going to have to gut the house which would probably be a total loss. The japanse have barriers where the surge waters would come in an extreme typhoon situation and are not allowed to build past that. Sadly boomers, developers and county commisioners are too greedy to implement it.




tokyo bay barrier

[Babayagawick85]

Theres 2 systems developing in the Atlantic now. Florida brothers prepare!

God help us


https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

[envisu]

they can build an entire house out of concrete still wont stop 15ft surges and the water pressure. This portion of this bridge was pure concrete and still crumbled like a cookie. also if you build a house and get 6ft of surge inside you are still going to have to gut the house which would probably be a total loss. The japanse have barriers where the surge waters would come in an extreme typhoon situation and are not allowed to build past that. Sadly boomers, developers and county commisioners are too greedy to implement it.




tokyo bay barrier

Yeahhh you're definitely not getting that kind of funding around Fl.

Still lots of standing structures on Sanibel, but most will have to be demolished anyway.

[suave2000]

they can build an entire house out of concrete still wont stop 15ft surges and the water pressure. This portion of this bridge was pure concrete and still crumbled like a cookie. also if you build a house and get 6ft of surge inside you are still going to have to gut the house which would probably be a total loss. The japanse have barriers where the surge waters would come in an extreme typhoon situation and are not allowed to build past that. Sadly boomers, developers and county commisioners are too greedy to implement it.




tokyo bay barrier

Yes concrete is not indestructible but it does help a lot to the avg house. Take a look at Cuba, only two people died there with hurricane Ian. They have mostrly concrete based constructions (old and decrepit ones but still resistant)

For example this one house that survived hurricane michael was built with concrete. It was the only one left standing.

[NMH]

Wife and I vacationed last year on Ft. Myers beach, I think was at the best western right down from the pink shell. Saw a few videos of the aftermath, like you said, shocking and just sad. Hope they can build it back better but similar (no biden).

[coast2coastam]

It's crazy to think of Lee County being considered nice nowadays. Last time I was there was like 2007, but it was a complete dump outside of Captiva and Sanibel.

It's the nicest part of Florida imo. Tropical with coconut trees and clear warm water without the insanity and crowding of the Miami area.

I don't understand why they don't require structures to be hurricane proof in all of Florida, especially right on the coast. Apparently it doesn't cost that much more to do, and the people right on the water could easily afford it. Here's a house that was built to withstand a hurricane put to the test:

https://www.popsci.com/hurricane-mic...gineering/?amp

[GainzMcgee]

Yeahhh you're definitely not getting that kind of funding around Fl.

Still lots of standing structures on Sanibel, but most will have to be demolished anyway.

I don't understand why they don't require structures to be hurricane proof in all of Florida, especially right on the coast. Apparently it doesn't cost that much more to do, and the people right on the water could easily afford it. Here's a house that was built to withstand a hurricane put to the test:

no matter how much "code" they implement on concrete buildings if the inside gets flooded its usually a total loss or a 6 figure rebuild.



also from that article

Building codes and human ingenuity can stand up to Mother Nature—for a price. The owners estimate weatherproofing added 20 percent to the cost of construction,

you could be adding 200,000 for each million dollar home. Its not feasable

[OffwhiteBrah]

Theres 2 systems developing in the Atlantic now. Florida brothers prepare!

God help us


https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Last i looked models have them pushing west towards central america

[coast2coastam]

also from that article
you could be adding 200,000 for each million dollar home. Its not feasable

It's definitely feasible for million dollar homes on barrier islands.

[suave2000]

no matter how much "code" they implement on concrete buildings if the inside gets flooded its usually a total loss or a 6 figure rebuild.



also from that article
you could be adding 200,000 for each million dollar home. Its not feasable

Not really, concrete based structures are cheaper in the end. This concrete block system is way cheaper than wooden frames (the one used even in favelas and what not)



Water damage can be avoided simply raising the floor level with stilts etc. While raising the interior level would raise costs it's not something absurdly expensive to do so.

[suave2000]

For example lets take a look at your avg. low cost poverty latin american home.



The same concrete based structure is elevated one level to make room for parking below, not for safety reasons but because on a small lot you lack the room, the only solution is to build up (with is always cheaper than building horizontaly) A 12ft water sourge would do nothing to your house, probably some electrical damage in the main line but that's something that can be fixed easily.

[GainzMcgee]

Water damage can be avoided simply raising the floor level with stilts etc. While raising the interior level would raise costs it's not something absurdly expensive to do so.

stilts helped....



in addition peru doesnt get hurricanes please see my previous post where even the concrete bridge with rebar got decimated.

[suave2000]

stilts helped....



in addition peru doesnt get hurricanes please see my previous post where even the concrete bridge with rebar got decimated.

Damaged and rotten wooden stilts didn't help. Properly designed concrete columns would have withstood. Look at the house posted a couple posts above it survived just fine. Btw I'm an architect and I've designed a couple houses on the Belize coast (they're still standing) and yes they were built on stilts to deal with flooding.

[naich]

Commie llama, most houses in florida are "block home" aka concrete construction. My entire neighborhood in St. Pete is block single story homes. Check zillow and you'll see block homes almost exclusively. Seems to be the newest homes that are multi story and wooden. Screams of "just build it, I need it there for vacation by summer!"


You would be a fool to buy wood anywhere in this state. If its not a hurricane, its termites.

[Retoaded]

I know that there were related threads on here about this, but they've been pushed way way way way way down. I thought I would resurrect.


I've been an on-and-off Lee County resident since 2000. I've lived here all of the time since Fall 2017.


It really is that bad.


Our neighborhood (200-250 households) is pretty lucky in that although we are relatively close to the coast, we're on an only slightly perceptible hill that you'd only notice if you were a surveyor and there was nothing on the land. The neighborhood has specially-designed streets to make for superior drainage, on top of that. It would take a storm surge of, I think, at least 14 feet before there would be any water whatsoever in our houses. On top of that, yes, there is a Homeowner's Association, and those can be a pain in the butt, but ours isn't too bad. One rule is about the type of trees that we can have in our yard. There's a palm tree in pretty much every yard, but few of them are over say 20-25 feet high and are at the edge of our lawns and pose minimal damage list. We're certainly not a gated community and the houses here are modest-sized - just smartly planned.


Our neighborhood was without power for just over 4 days. So we were relatively lucky. The boil water notice we are under could persist for perhaps weeks, I am guessing.


However, out of a county with 700,000+ residents, tens of thousands, if not over 100,000, have had their lives changed in a pretty major way.


The richest area of Lee County - Sanibel and Captiva Islands - was devastated. About 7000 people. The causeway to the island has been destroyed. Only boat or helicopter access now and this is probably the way it will be for a year or two. Fort Myers Beach, also on an island, is largely the same - don't think their bridge was totally destroyed, but all residents have been ordered off and it is being treated as one giant crime scene for each deceased person. This is another few thousand people. And there is up to a few feet of sand in many of those houses now.


Downtown Fort Myers was severely flooded - it was right on the Caloosahatchee River/Harbor just a few miles inland from the Gulf - a lot of water was pushed up there. They're going to be dealing with major structural repairs for a while.


It is going to be YEARS before SouthWest Florida is going to be the same, if it ever really is the same. In terms of loss of human life, this was not anywhere near as bad as, say, Katrina, but in terms of structural damage to an area, it is actually worse.


At the Federal and State level, people were given adequate warning time and enough shelters were opened. It's not the government's fault.


But personally, I am in shock at what has happened. This should send out some "wake up calls" of sorts, but I don't know that they will actually be heeded.

What type of "wake up calls"?

[suave2000]

Commie llama, most houses in florida are "block home" aka concrete construction. My entire neighborhood in St. Pete is block single story homes. Check zillow and you'll see block homes almost exclusively. Seems to be the newest homes that are multi story and wooden. Screams of "just build it, I need it there for vacation by summer!"


You would be a fool to buy wood anywhere in this state. If its not a hurricane, its termites.

Yeah only tropical hardwoods are properly termite resistant and can withstand hurrican level windloads. A wooden frame house with any kind of tropical hardwood would be absurdly expensive tho. Btw vernacular mayan housing (the houses where rural mayans live) are Cat 5 hurricane resistant. They use clever low tech designs taking into account their weather and local resources. They disippate heavy winds and their local hardwood gives them a lot of strenght agains flex forces and against local insects.









Just lol @ 2k year old low tech being more weather resistant that chitbox homes.

[AlBHappy]

I love the west coast of Florida and owned property in Naples for 16 years. I sold it last year. Wilma, Irma and now Ian, all ravaged the town since 2005. This is the second time Punta Gorda was in close proximity to landfall.

My wife and I want to move back down in 3 years. She said, "inside 41 is preferable." Not going to happen after the stomr surge ravaged 5th ave.

Hope @MrBourbon is safe.