Hurricane Ian Hits Cape Coral

[RSKDSK]

All, As you may know, Cape Coral was hit with a Hurricane last week. I just happen to live there. Here is a video I took during the storm. My Thor Sanctuary had no damage ... everything else was a different story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1u8-i2pWg0

[Jimbo56]

I’d say you’re lucky you survived.

[cpmath]

What a sad video but thankfully you and your family are safe and have weathered this storm. It is amazing nature's force.

Again, stay safe and thank you for taking this video.

CPMath

[Judge]

I'm glad you made it through ok.... it had to be very scary at times with the canal almost up to your lanai and water high on the road so that you were trapped once you decided to ride it out.

I live in Cape Coral as well..... we were out in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta when it hit so I appreciate the video! I recognize many of the places you were showing in the aftermath so that was very helpful to see the extent of the damage. I hadn't seen video of the marina at Cape Harbor so that was good to see as well.

I have been getting some pictures but the national news is saying / showing nothing about Cape Coral and we had 3 of the highest 8 wind gusts at 140, 122 and 108. The Cape Coral Yacht Club had a 135MPH gust.

We live at Tarpon Point down by the Westin. We live in Tarpon Gardens but my brother lives in one of the high-rises and he rode it out too. Fortunately he was there to check on our home after the storm..... and empty the fridge.

I don't know how we didn't get flooded being in a Zone A flood zone but it was a miracle we didn't. We have some roof damage and all of the trees and gates in the community were destroyed. We still don't have electricity yet. They hope by this weekend.

Since we don't have major damage, we are going to hold off coming back until the end of the month to give it time for things to settle down a bit.

Our marina was also heavily damaged. We just bought a new boat and fortunately i didn't have it at the marina yet. Here are some pics of the marina damage....

[DavidEM]

I was surprised that the water didn't get into your lanai, given dire predictions of 15' storm surge. I suspect that most homes in Cape Coral are 8-10' above mean water level.

I suspect that the track of Ian had a lot to do with it. For example, Punta Gorda where I used to live, got a direct hit from Ian. That actually limited storm surge. If the track were more to the northwest by even ten miles, the high winds would have pushed water directly up Charlotte Harbor.

Cape Coral actually has less fetch than Punta Gorda so it may never get big storm surges.

It takes wind strength, wind direction and duration over a big body of water to create really big storm surges, and apparently that didn't happen.

I was also surprised that the screen on your lanai seems to have survived. I would have expected blowing debris to rip it up. But it looks like most of the debris was on the street side of your house.

Do you have hurricane rated windows? Those can take a 2x4 slamming into them and not break. Not sure I would stand there in front of the windows filming without them.

David

[Judge]

Originally Posted by DavidEM

I was surprised that the water didn't get into your lanai, given dire predictions of 15' storm surge. I suspect that most homes in Cape Coral are 8-10' above mean water level.

I suspect that the track of Ian had a lot to do with it. For example, Punta Gorda where I used to live, got a direct hit from Ian. That actually limited storm surge. If the track were more to the northwest by even ten miles, the high winds would have pushed water directly up Charlotte Harbor.

It takes wind strength, wind direction and duration to create really big storm surges, and apparently that didn't happen.

David

While we didn't get the 12 - 16' surge they said could happen, there still was a fairly big storm surge but Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel took the brunt of it and those barrier islands helped the mainland. Water hit second floors on Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel.... there has been fewer reports and less footage of Pine Island as to how high it got there.

Downtown Fort Myers had a record storm surge of just over 7 feet.... the previous record was a little over 3 feet. Naples also set a record for storm surge

Cape Coral begins flooding at 5' surge. The canal system around the system does give the water some place to go other than over land immediately. That was one of the reasons the canal was created so it could help manage stormwater.

I am a 5 minute walk to the Caloosahatchee River where it dumps into the Gulf. According to my Elevation Certificate, I start getting flooded at 16 feet so as you said if the storm position and winds were slightly different, I would have had waters coming in.

[Pabs4]

Originally Posted by Judge

While we didn't get the 12 - 16' surge they said could happen, there still was a fairly big storm surge but Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel took the brunt of it and those barrier islands helped the mainland. Water hit second floors on Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel.... there has been fewer reports and less footage of Pine Island as to how high it got there.

Downtown Fort Myers had a record storm surge of just over 7 feet.... the previous record was a little over 3 feet. Naples also set a record for storm surge

Cape Coral begins flooding at 5' surge. The canal system around the system does give the water some place to go other than over land immediately. That was one of the reasons the canal was created so it could help manage stormwater.

I am a 5 minute walk to the Caloosahatchee River where it dumps into the Gulf. According to my Elevation Certificate, I start getting flooded at 16 feet so as you said if the storm position and winds were slightly different, I would have had waters coming in.

We live an hour from the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas. We had a vacation home there prior to Hurricane Ike hitting. That home had been built in 1973, but we were completely unprepared for it being totally demolished during Ike. The storm surge was 18 feet in some parts of the peninsula. Very few homes in our particular neighborhood survived. Very few homes on the majority of the peninsula survived. The focus in the news media was on Galveston, but we received a direct hit. We know there were tornadoes involved, but the storm surge did the majority of the damage. For one reason or another there were several people who did not evacuate. A few didn’t evacuate by choice, but most who stayed were there because they were unable to evacuate. The storm surge started coming in early Thursday morning. Landfall was predicted for well over 48 hours later than that. There are two ways on and off the peninsula. Hwy 87 on the east end, and the ferry to Galveston on the west end. Once the waves picked up and the water level rose they shut the ferries down. By that time water was also covering the highway on the east end. Some people survived because their homes remained intact, but many people perished because their homes were destroyed. Some people managed to float on debris, and landed miles north of the peninsula. One lady was carried out to sea while her boyfriend watched because he was hanging onto a staircase and she was swept away from him. She, along with several others, have never been found. I tell all of you this because I want you to evacuate when there is a strong hurricane heading your way. I have lived in this area for my entire 65 years, and have never had to evacuate for a hurricane until Hurricane Rita in 2005. She was a kitty cat compared to Ike in 2008. Please do not take a chance with your life or the lives of your loved ones. Especially if you have an RV. Just have evacuation boxes prepared that you can load into your RV and/or tow vehicle, and drive to a safe place. You can replace material things. You can’t replace a life. I’m attaching a photo of what was left of our little 1300 sq.ft. home when we were finally allowed back in two weeks after the hurricane. Can you imagine what would have happened to anyone who had stayed in our home during the storm?