Decimated Causeway, Bridge To Pine Island To Be Repaired By Saturday

FORT MYERS, FL — Doom-and-gloom speculation that Hurricane Ian-ravaged Sanibel Island is no longer habitable and accusations that Lee County officials are to blame for the death toll because they failed to evacuate residents soon enough are nonsense, said Gov. Ron DeSantis Tuesday.

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"You don't have to politicize every single tragedy in this country," he said. "I think people are tired of that. We have so many people that are here, working hard to pull themselves up. We should be focusing on what we can do to lift people up and stop incessantly talking and trying to cast dispersion on people who were doing the best job they could with imperfect information."

Lee County officials have been criticized for waiting until Tuesday to institute mandatory evacuations for residents expected to be impacted by the hurricane.

Lee County Commission Chairman Cecil Pendergrass said during a news conference Sunday that, a few days before the hurricane made landfall, the county remained outside the National Hurricane Center's impact cone.

"Seventy-two hours before the storm, we still were not in the cone," Pendergrass said. "We were working off of data and went off that data."

To date, DeSantis said, search-and-rescue teams have searched 79,000 homes and businesses hit by the hurricane, rescuing 2,300 people.

The death toll now stands at 102 people.

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DeSantis added that Pine, Sanibel and Captiva islands not only will be habitable, they will be rebuilt.

In fact, he said he just authorized the Florida Department of Transportation on Tuesday to seek bids to build a temporary bridge to reconnect Sanibel and Captiva islands to Fort Myers.

The hurricane destroyed three sections of the Sanibel Causeway linking Fort Myers with Sanibel and its sister island, Captiva.

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DeSantis said it will allow trucks, equipment and technicians to access the island with supplies, building materials and linemen to restore power to the islands.

"Once immediate recovery efforts have subsided, permanent repairs will subsequently be constructed," he said.

Although those permanent repairs will take "some time to complete, the temporary road and bridges will be a safe short-term option for immediate access," he said.

DeSantis said he also visited Pine Island for the first time Tuesday and promised residents that he'll not only make repairs to the causeway and bridges from Fort Myers to the island, but said they will be completed by Saturday.

He said Publix on Pine Island has been giving away perishables in the storm's aftermath but said the grocer plans to resume regular operations as soon as the causeway and bridge repairs are completed.

In the meantime, he's flown 1,000 National Guards members to the islands to aid in search-and-rescue efforts and begin clearing debris and opening roads.

He's also transporting utility linemen to the islands on Chinook helicopters to inspect and restore power to the islands, which is key to providing normalcy to the islands.

When questioned about the $100 billion estimate in damages from Hurricane Ian, DeSantis responded, "I don't know if that's accurate. Obviously, the lives lost are much more significant."

He said he visited a shelter and met with women who were 85 and 90 years old who live on the islands and survived the hurricane.

"I'll tell you, there's a spirit out there," he said. "The people of Southwest Florida are ready to bounce back. They'll need some help, and we're down there doing it, but they have a lot of grit and determination."