Hurricane Ian tore across Florida last week, killing at least 105 people in the state and leaving destruction in its wake. Hundreds of thousands of households remain without electricity, and multiple counties are under boil water notices after the storm damaged crucial infrastructure.
In an attempt to understand the full scope of Ian’s impact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collected aerial imagery of many of the hardest hit areas. NOAA has previously done the same following other severe storms, like Hurricane Ida in 2021. Side by side, the aerial photos compared with satellite imagery captured before the storm illustrate the true extent of the destruction.
Mobile Homes Shattered
The storm had differing impacts across neighbourhoods. Mobile home communities, for instance, were heavily affected by the hurricane. After Ian, trailers in Palmetto Palms RV Resort were left seriously damaged. Some peoples’ homes were left flipped or broken to pieces.
Lots of previous research has demonstrated that factors like race and socioeconomic status correlate with community resilience following disaster. People with less money are more likely to incur worse impacts, less likely to recover, and more likely to be left homeless, according to a 2017 report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Mobile Homes Close-Up
A closer view shows a more detailed account of damage that many mobile homes and RVs at Palmetto Palms endured.
Reshaped Barrier Islands
Barrier islands are constantly changing, altered by the tides and weather. Hurricanes, especially, often create large and lasting shifts to barrier island landscapes. Ian is no exception. Sanibel Island’s coastline looks notably different after the storm than it did before.
Boat Pile-Ups
There are a lot of marinas in southwestern Florida, and Hurricane Ian turned many of those dock lots into smithereens. Boats ended up piled up or even carried inland onto roadways or crashed into buildings.
Widespread Flooding
Many homes and major streets were waterlogged by the storm. In some cases, the flooding took days to recede. And parts of the state remain under flood warnings.
Hospital Roof Damaged
Lots of buildings were left with big structural problems after Hurricane Ian. In one case, the storm tore a section of roof away from a hospital, leaving its intensive care unit exposed to the elements. Simultaneously, the same hospital’s ground floor emergency room flooded, according to a report from the Associated Press. Patients had to be evacuated.
San Carlos Island
Erosion Shows Evidence of Storm’s Strength
The hurricane sent huge quantities of water rushing through Florida’s streets and streams. The impact of erosion from that fast-moving, high water is apparent in this image of the Sanibel Island shore, where the beach eroded away in sections.
Fort Myers Beach
Some of the worst damage happened at Fort Myers Beach, a town of about 7,000 people and a popular tourist destination located on Estero Island. Whole blocks of beachfront homes and businesses were leveled.
Fort Myers Pier
Times Square, a shopping district of Fort Myers Beach that had a boardwalk and numerous tourist attractions, is almost entirely gone.
Rubble Everywhere
Even where houses appeared to remain mostly intact, streets and yards were filled with debris and rubble after the storm, signalling the existence of less obvious damage that could still spell big losses for homeowners. The Florida home and flood insurance market was already struggling before Ian, and the industry may not be able to handle the costs.
Sanibel Causeway Gone
The storm caused heavy damage to the 5 km-long Sanibel Causeway, the only road connecting Sanibel Island to Florida’s mainland. Repairs on another, smaller bridge connecting Pine Island are already underway, according to a report from Politico. But so far, state Governor Ron DeSantis hasn’t announced any specific timeline for the Sanibel Causeway’s re-building.
“I can’t tell … exactly how long that’s going to take,” DeSantis said, according to Politico.