Major Florida Bridge Washed Away During Hurricane Ian, Cutting Off 2 Florida Islands

A man walks through debris on a street in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian in Punta Gorda, Fa., on Sept. 29, 2022. (Ricardo Aarduengo/AFP via Getty Images)

The only bridge connecting the Sanibel and Captiva islands to Florida was partially destroyed by Hurricane Ian, which was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday.

The damage to the Sanibel Causeway was revealed Thursday morning. It runs between Fort Meyers and Sanibel Island, which is near where the storm made landfall on Wednesday afternoon.

It’s not clear how many people chose to remain on Sanibel Island. Reports say that about 6,000 people lived there.

Both Sanibel and Captiva islands were placed under evacuation orders before the storm approached Florida’s western coast.

Local media outlets published photos showing a significant piece of the causeway had collapsed into the water. Some estimated the gap is about 50 feet in length. Other video footage shows that at least three sections of the bridge were washed away during the storm.

In a news conference on Thursday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Sanibel Causeway and the nearby Pine Island Bridge are “impassable” and will require “structural” rebuilds.

“We’ve never seen a flood event like this,” he said. “We’ve never seen a storm surge of this magnitude.”

He added: “This is going to require years of effort to be able to rebuild and to come back. These are fantastic communities down in Southwest Florida with a lot of fantastic people, and they’re very tough and resilient. Of course, they didn’t ask for this. But they need our help now.”

Both Lee and Charlotte counties, home to about 900,000 people, were “basically off the grid,” DeSantis added.

Earlier in the day, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told ABC News: “While I don’t have confirmed numbers, I definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds.”

But DeSantis said that that number is not confirmed. Later, Marceno said there were five confirmed deaths in a CNN interview.

There were two unconfirmed storm-related fatalities, DeSantis said. The extent of deaths and injuries was unclear on Thursday morning as rescue workers were only starting to respond to calls after not being able to go out during the treacherous conditions.

After hitting Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, Ian was downgraded to a tropical storm as it currently makes its way across Florida. Dangerous conditions are expected for portions of South Carolina and Georgia as the storm is expected to track north, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Ian blasted ashore at the barrier island of Cayo Costa on Wednesday afternoon with maximum sustained winds of 155 miles per hour. It rapidly transformed Florida’s southwestern shoreline, dotted with sandy beaches, coastal towns, and mobile home parks, into a disaster zone as it swept seawater into waterfront homes.

Reuters contributed to this report.