sand hurricane
My winter home in Boca Grande, Florida took another two hits from hurricanes Helene and Milton. Two years ago, hurricane Ian inflicted terrible damage. My house had to be rebuilt. Now, Helene left a foot of water in our lower level only to be followed by Milton and 2 feet of water. That required a contractor to pump it out and cut away the dry wall for replacement. The casualties included the furniture, beds and the golf cart. The pool was filthy, so we needed a pool cleaner followed by the landscaper, the garbage man, the window washer, the power washer, the fence builder, the TV and internet guy, the big trash hauler, the exterminator, the elevator repairman, and two plumbers replacing the water heaters and a pump for the pool.
But we were lucky. Homes on the opposite side of our island that faced the Gulf of Mexico were inundated with sand. The giant waves washed out foundations and deposited up to 6 feet of sand inside these high value homes. My contractor told me the only way they could remove the sand was by shoveling it out and it was costing the homeowners $250,000-$300,000 each for sand removal. One homeowner told me it would be a year before they could move back in.
The island is 7 miles long and ½ mile wide. It’s the northern-most barrier island that starts at Fort Myer, runs north to Sanibel, Captiva, the unoccupied Caya Costa and then to Boca Grande (known as the tarpon fishing capital of Florida). You get to the island from the north over a causeway that costs $6 to cross. Boca Grande has a peak population of 4,500 in the winter. The island was originally owned by the Dupont family, and they have been good stewards of the land.
What you see here today are huge piles of wet furniture, appliances household goods and dead foliage piled along the roadways. The saltwater destroyed appliances and refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers are piled high. Mountains of sand are being trucked onto a large field where the sand is cleaned and trucked back to the ocean. Heavy equipment and big trucks rumble everywhere. Piles of sand the size of haystacks dot the island. The damage is incalculable. No doubt Boca Grande has suffered the worst from the unrelenting hurricanes.