![]() “We are going to continue to exist on Sanibel,” Muench, 52, said from Fort Myers after evacuating Sanibel. The island, he said, is “paradise - we live in the most beautiful place on Earth.” His family has owned and operated a campground on the island for three generations. “Sanibel will just be an enclave for the ultrawealthy,” Keenan said.īut Muench, the Sanibel resident, said homeowners and business owners are sure to rebuild their properties. Those with fewer means and who are underinsured will likely move. There will be fewer government resources to help people rebuild. Keenan, the Tulane professor, said Sanibel will undoubtedly be changed by Hurricane Ian, based on the research he’s done. Many homeowners bought their properties before people were fully aware of climate change and the risks of sea-level rise, Shirreffs said. Planting mangroves to prevent erosion could end up blocking someone’s view. “And we will ask very little for that money in return in terms of taking a step back from places that are incredibly exposed to hazards and making sure that we never have this kind of a disaster again,” Young said.īut any big changes to the standard disaster response will be complicated, said Dawn Shirreffs, Florida director of the Environmental Defense Fund.Ĭhallenges could include decisions on who participates in programs that elevate flood-prone homes or programs that buy those homes and tear them down. Young, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, which is a joint venture between Duke University and Western Carolina University. “When there’s a disaster like this, we will pour tens of billions of public dollars into these communities to help them rebuild,” said Robert S. At the same time, the cost of rebuilding them is often high because they’re home to many expensive properties, such as vacation homes. Like Pawleys Island, many barrier island communities anchor long-entrenched tourist economies, which are often the source of crucial tax dollars. The causeways connecting the island to the mainland were strewn with palm fronds, pine needles and even a kayak retrieved from a nearby shoreline. Homeowners in the beach community about 73 miles (120 kilometers) up the coast from Charleston struggled to assess damage from storm. Winds and rains broke apart the barrier island’s main pier, one of several in the state to crumble and wash away. “And if you build on them, you’re just waiting for a storm to take them away.”Īfter devastating parts Florida, Ian made landfall again in South Carolina, where Pawleys Island was among the hardest hit places. “They move at the whims of the storms,” said Anna Linhoss, a professor of biosystems engineering at Auburn University. Some even disappear.īuilding on the islands and holding them in place with beach replenishment programs just makes them more vulnerable to destruction because they can no longer move, according to experts. And they move based on weather patterns and other ocean forces. ![]() ![]() They typically form as waves deposit sediment off the mainland. The latest storm has initiated a new cycle of damage and repair on Sanibel that’s played out on many other barrier islands, from the New Jersey shore and North Carolina’s Outer Banks to a ribbon of land along the Louisiana coast.īarrier islands were never an ideal place for development, experts say. In 1921, a massive hurricane wiped out half of neighboring Captiva’s landmass and cut that island in two, according to the Sanibel Historical Museum & Village. ![]()
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