Sanibel Island devastated by Hurricane Ian

I have been to Sanibel Island and the beaches were like diamond dust. It was so beautiful.

Probably best to leave that island to nature, and not build on it anymore

I was at Sanibel island 10 days ago. I surprised my fiance by taking her there because I knew she would enjoy catching sea shells. Very beautiful beaches . Can't believe that I drove through that same bridge and roadways 10 days ago and now this Hurricane. Praying that all of Florida gets through this Hurricane and return to normal.

Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast.

Heartbreaking. It was such a beautiful island. Prayers for the citizens.

The Island will recover and we will continue to visit this beautiful Island as we do every year in January. Our love and support from Holland !

So sad. We visited here in 2018 and vowed to return in 2020, then COVID happened. We will return!!! Stay strong Florida!!!!

My favorite place on earth. Spent 10 days in July this year. Breaks my heart too see the damage. 🙏🏼 for all the ppl in Fla.

I have friends that wanted to buy a house there, I talked them out of it due to hurricanes and it being particularly more vulnerable being a low lying small island. They ended up buying a place in St. Augustine, which is getting the effects too and also prone to hurricanes but they're more inland and not prone to a surge of sea water.

Sanibel had probably the nicest beaches of anywhere I've been. Sad to see it destroyed like this.

I’m in tears. Sanibel/ Captiva, I have so many good memories from trips there. It’s literally gone. I don’t think it’s fixable. I’m sorry to all of those who lived there.

Was just there a few weeks ago walking on the beach, riding around looking at the beautiful island. This is sad to see and hope and pray for the people there and Florida.

My wife and I like to vacation in Florida. Every time we go there we think about moving there. Then we remember the hurricanes, get in our car, and drive back to the mountains of East Tennessee.

I an thankful for my wife and daughter and what I have but I honestly take it for granted too often. Hoping for the best for the people in Florida and elsewhere.

Just pray for all the people in Florida, stay strong

None of what they showed was Sanibel Island. They panned from the causeway toward the east to the Ft Myers area where the causeway starts.

We used to vacation at Sanibel 40 years ago. We rented a 2 bedroom bungalow with a living room and kitchen for $150.00 a week, out near the wildlife refuge. We quit going once it became commercialized and over-touristed, like everywhere in Florida now. Up the coast at Seaside I remember a plaque in the bathroom. It read in part: "Over the last 100 years, this area has been hit with a major hurricane on average every 10 years." That quelled my desire to buy a vacation home in Florida. Setting aside the argument of causation, be it natural or human activity, data shows a significant increase in the size and intensity of cyclones worldwide. The percentage of hurricanes that reach category 4 or 5 is increasing. They are also moving slower, thereby increasing the amount of damage to areas in their path. Expect to see more Ians and Katrinas in the decades to come.

God bless all of you guys down there just keep your head up everything is going to be fine

Hello i'm from Florida. Thankfully i did not lose power and no one in my family was injured. However due to flooding it destroyed my front and back porch. We stored many of our family history in a shack but now it gone. We lost our memories

This island is my happy place. I’ve gone there almost every summer since I can remember. I’m just absolutely shattered.