Our iconic and historic structures have been taking a beating the last couple of years thanks to hurricanes.
Nothing can compare to what Hurricane Ian did. The second anniversary of what many consider to be one of Florida’s worst hurricanes was on Sept. 28. In 2022, when the powerful Category 4 storm came ashore, it caused levels of death and destruction never seen in these parts.
Last week, another powerful storm, Helene, ran up the Gulf of Mexico and although there wasn’t a direct hit on SWFL like there was with Ian, the impacts were far and wide. Once again people were wondering about the piers in Naples and Fort Myers Beach (what’s left of them) and the Sanibel Lighthouse.
In one of the more bizarre occurrences during Ian, the Sanibel Lighthouse lost one of its four iron legs. Remarkably, the 140-year-old lighthouse didn’t topple over and the resilience of that structure served as inspiration for many in the long recovery process that is still on-going today.
Let’s take a look at where things stand with 11 landmarks in SWFL as another hurricane season starts to wind down: