HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital nears completion of $60M expansionCharlotte County extends time residents can live in RVs, mobile homes
Ian has forced the closure of Pine Island Road, the only way to get onto Pine Island. (CREDIT: WINK News) Pine Island reopened Wednesday afternoon. At a press conference earlier in the day, Gov. Ron DeSantis said work on Pine Island Road was nearing completion. “Emergency vehicles are going to start going across in about an hour,” DeSantis said during a press conference on Matlacha. “Later today, the public will be able o access this bridge and be able to get back … Be patient as they work through these last little kinks.” DeSantis said Publix boated employees to its store on the Island to get ahead on Wednesday morning. There are also trucks waiting to cross the bridge to restock the supermarket. “We wanted it to be done by the end of this week, and they got it done by the middle of this week,” DeSantis said. DeSantis said he toured Pine Island on Tuesday and found debris, downed trees and powerlines and damaged infrastructure. “But I also saw people that are very resilient; there was no way they were going to leave this island,” DeSantis said. “This is their home.” Now that the island has been connected to the mainland, more extensive work will begin to get its power back. DeSantis said he was also able to tour Sanibel for the first time. Pieces of the Sanibel Causeway drifting in the ocean. (CREDIT: WINK News) He described the damage to the infrastructure as worse than what has been seen on Fort Myers Beach. “That’s going to take rebuilding power infrastructure,” DeSantis said. “I think we need to get a lot of people on that Island.” But, still, DeSantis said the Sanibel Causeway could reopen as early as the end of October. “We were fortunate the White House declared it an emergency,” DeSantis. “You have bridges severed.” FEMA has already given an extension to 60 days, which means the federal government will pay for 100% of debris removal and emergency services, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. “There’s been less bureaucracy holding us back in this one than everything I’ve seen,” DeSantis said. DeSantis was scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden on Wednesday. Biden landed in Southwest Florida just before 1 p.m.