First things first. We are blessed by a loving God who continues to provide the greatest nourishment we need, food for the soul. You’ll find it all around, including in the gift of a temperature irrelevant shower, the first in five days, and a belly full of beef stew, Dinty Moore of course. 🙂 Finest gourmet dining in years. Perfect.
Airborne search and rescue efforts continue with particular emphasis on the barrier islands and back bay region. If you haven’t watched the video of U.S. Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin aircrew from Airstation Miami, you should [See Here]. It’s a great example of the hundreds of rescue flights taking place all day, and the kid who used the mirror to signal the flight crew and protect his grandma is, well, sharp.
Again, if you evacuated the coastal region of Southwest Florida (SWFL), stay put where you are. There is no power and no water system; literally nothing to sustain you that you do not bring yourself. If you do enter this region to check on your property, do so with the intent to leave again because there’s no current timeline for any restoration. A strict sundown curfew remains in effect throughout.
Rescue ferry service from Sanibel Island continues for those who can make it to the Western side of the destroyed causeway. The entire island is being evacuated leaving only the national guard in place to provide security. No reasonable estimate for any recovery. Officials need everyone off the island. Earliest estimates for repair of the major damaged infrastructure are being made in terms of years.
Air and boat rescue from Matlacha and Pine Island continues. Like Sanibel Island the bridges are gone. State and county law enforcement resources are too stressed to operate in a location now inaccessible by road. Mandatory evacuations have been ordered. See Graphic for how to leave Pine Island today (Sunday):

Residents are asked to make their way to the location above and national guard trucks will take you to Coast Guard boats. Evacuees will leave their vehicles at the pick-up point. This is a mandatory island evacuation until interim recovery efforts can take place to make returning the island possible. My heart goes out to the people forced to leave their homes, some, likely many, with no place to go after the shelter stay.
It’s a mess. Pine Island is mostly salty good people with working callouses and a mix of retirees who just wanted to live quietly in an old Florida location. Now this assembly of people need to figure out where to live with no available housing for 50+ miles. According to local media every hotel and motel within 50 miles of the western impact zone are full of evacuees. Long term, I don’t think anyone knows what this is going to look like.
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