Sanibel welcomes visitors with open arms for first time since Ian destruction

Local businesses, first responders and community members greeted visitors driving to Sanibel Island on Monday with open arms for the first time since Hurricane Ian made landfall on the barrier island.

Sanibel, a popular tourist and snowbird destination, has only been accessible to residents — with an entry pass — and recovery teams since Sept. 28 when Ian, a powerful Category 4 storm, slammed Southwest Florida.

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Rachel Pierce, who lives on Sanibel, reopened her art gallery for the first time Monday in more than three months, allowing other business owners unable to return to their bases of operation to tag along.

Rachel Pierce Art Gallery, located in the 1500 block of Periwinkle Way, opened in January 2022.

"We had a really awesome almost first year and then the storm hit," Pierce said.

She said Ian changed everything.

"My windows all caved in and everything got sucked out," Pierce said. "People were finding my artwork like by the lighthouse and all the way down Dixie Beach Road. My artwork littered this island, but I have some pieces that survived."

After Ian, Pierce said she first had to clear up the mud and debris, as well as dead fish from the gallery.

Boxes and other items were submerged in Ian's storm surge, Pierce recalled.

Then, she had to figure out what to do with the damaged artwork.

"My husband was like, 'Let's just save these ... You can think about it later,'" Pierce said. "We just had them stacked up underneath the building for a while."

Pierce soon began to receive requests from people interested in purchasing the damaged paintings.

"I said, '[Do] you guys realize it was sitting in this toxic water?,'" Pierce recalled. "It's got water lines on it. Some are worse than others."

She sold about a dozen pieces.

On Monday, Pierce invited other owners who can't return to their businesses yet.

"Everybody, every shop you see out here is just locally owned like us," Pierce said, adding that restaurant and store chains aren't yet allowed on the island with few exceptions.

Pierce said business owners have helped each other since Ian devastated the island.

"The good that has come out of the storm and the kindness of strangers, friends and family ... The generosity of others," Pierce said, as she tried to find the words to describe the communion across the island since the storm.

Curfew still enforced

While Monday marked a new beginning for the island with Sanibel city officials partially removing the police checkpoint on the Sanibel Causeway, a curfew remains in effect between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Sanibel and Captiva residents need to continue to display resident reentry passes when traveling on and off the island during curfew hours, officials said.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office, as well as officers from other jurisdictions, continue to help Sanibel police.

Authorities have set up roadblocks near beaches and beach parks, including the Sanibel Lighthouse, which was damaged during the storm, losing one of the four legs it stood on.

Others shared stories of loss and perseverance Monday.

Lynn Kompinski, who's worked at Pandora's Box, located a few blocks away from the lighthouse, for more than 20 years, was one of the business owners accompanying Pierce.

Kompinski said she ran out of time to board up the windows to her store.

"When we got there, the windows were all intact and the merchandise was mostly all dry," Kompinski said. "Everything was good."

Kompinski said they only got about one-quarter of an inch of water.

"But within two weeks, we had to empty every single piece of merchandise out of our store," Kompinski said, adding that she had nowhere to store everything. Some items, worth four figures, she had just bought.

Kompinski shared some optimism, too.

"We're still here ... We could start over," Kompinski said. "We keep going. It's been about three months without doing this and you kind of forget how much you like it."

Kompinski said she has everything stored in 300 bins.

Restaurants coming back

Eateries across the island prepared to welcome visitors, too.

Jeff Weigel, who owns Sanibel Deli & Coffee Factory in the 2300 block of Palm Ridge Road, said everything inside the popular deli was "a mess."

Weigel said they lost 85 to 90% of their equipment.

"The hardest part is you want to be able to get on a path right away to correct what went wrong," Weigel said. "But it's just so much uncertainty after that you have to make your own path because everybody's confused."

Weigel said community members frequently stopped by and offered help and supported businesses like his every step of the way.

"I think it's the right thing for the community," Weigel said. "There's a lot of people in Fort Myers that have come up to me at the gym or seen me in the grocery store and they want to help but they couldn't."

Weigel said the reopening also creates awareness and helps people see what happened on the island.

"It's amazing how it's brought out so much good to so many people that just want to help other people get back on their feet, no matter who they are," Weigel said. "It's refreshing."

First responders support islanders, businesses, visitors

Sanibel Fire is among the local agencies aiding the community and those helping to restore it.

Capt. John DiMaria, who's been with the fire department for 15 years, said when they first got onto the island, it was "completely unrecognizable."

"Just with trees down, water still on the roadways, houses ... Buildings ... Structural," DiMaria said. "Everything just kind of in shambles, if you will."

DiMaria said they're happy to see everyone return to the island.

Robert Bell, a two-year firefighter and paramedic for Sanibel Fire, a lifelong Florida resident, said it was weird to see somewhere he grew up going to on vacation unrecognizable.

Bell said the pair were among the earliest first responders on the island following landfall. Sanibel Fire Chief Kevin Barbot was the first to return.

"It was covered in 6 inches of mud," Bell recalled. "You couldn't see anything. I almost stepped on a gator while I was walking through trying to find ... We were basically trying to find any vehicle that would run."

With most of their equipment a boat trip away or damaged, they relied on cars left in nearby neighborhoods to rescue those trapped in the rubble, Bell said.

They rescued about 1,000 people relying on others' cars.

Bell added the change has been a degree at a time.

"It's encouraging to see that these businesses are finally opening back up, and you can see the smiles on people's faces," Bell said. "Kind of life going back to some semblance of normal."

Recovery requires time

DiMaria said that after the storm their station wasn't livable.

"We were doing 12-hour days," DiMaria said. "We'd come in before the sun even came up and we'd leave when the sun went down."

They were home for between six and eight hours, after Ian hit, DiMaria recalled. That lasted about a month, he said.

"It was it was tough in the beginning, I gotta tell you," DiMaria said. "We were here every day."

When their shift ended, a boat would come pick them up.

They didn't have a home base to come back to, in addition to operating refrigerators, Bell added.

"When we first came out here it was literally just us bringing what we could in coolers, and stuff," Bell said. "But not having a base to go back to made it tough."

Ian also affected their radio operations. Bell said they got help from AT&T, as well as Elon Musk to restore communication on the island.

Since landfall, DiMaria said their duties have expanded − like responding to construction workers falling from roofs.

Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Twitter @TomasFRoBeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Hurricane Ian: Sanibel Island open to non-resident visitors again