Forecasters have predicted Lee County would see 8-12 feet of storm surge as Hurricane Milton headed eastward. True to form, the water is rising. And nowhere is that more precarious than on Florida’s barrier islands.
On Pine Island, a barrier island largely inhabited by blue-collar residents, many of them elderly, the storm surge has already reached levels higher than Hurricane Helene.
Helene slapped at the area just two weeks earlier on its way to devastate the Big Bend area and decimating more rural, mountainous parts of North Carolina. In Lee County, estimates put Helene’s storm surge at two to four feet high.
But Kevin and Jen Russell, the unofficial mayors of Pine Island and the administrators of popular Facebook group Things to do on Pine Island, which is a vital line of communication with residents during storms, have reports coming in from residents that the water is already at least a foot and a half higher than it was during Helene.
And it’s still rising.
“This isn’t even on the bay,” said Jen. “This is inland, off a canal. The water is coming over the road and into another neighborhood.”