Pine Island Road reopens.Sanibel Causeway to reopen by end of October

Matlacha

Pine Island reopened Wednesday afternoon.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Gov. Ron DeSantis said construction on Pine Island Road was nearing completion.

“Emergency vehicles are expected to start crossing in about an hour,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Matlacha. … Please be patient while they work through these last little kinks.”

DeSantis said Wednesday morning, Publix has moved forward by boating employees to its stores on the island. There are also trucks waiting to cross the bridge to restock the supermarket.

“We wanted to get it done by the end of the week and they got it done by the middle of the week,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis said he toured Pine Island on Tuesday and found debris, fallen trees, power lines and damaged infrastructure.

“But I also saw very resilient people. They never left this island,” said DeSantis. “This is their home.”

Now that the island is connected to the mainland, more extensive work begins to restore its power.

DeSantis said he was also able to tour Sanibel for the first time.

He explained that the damage to infrastructure was more severe than what was seen at Fort Myers Beach.

“This requires rebuilding the power infrastructure,” said DeSantis. “I think we need to gather a lot of people on that island.”

Still, DeSantis said the Sanibel Causeway could reopen as early as the end of October.

“We were lucky that the White House declared a state of emergency,” DeSantis said. “You cut the bridge.”

FEMA has already granted a 60-day extension, which means the federal government will pay 100 percent of debris removal and emergency services, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Department of Emergency Management. increase.

“The bureaucracy is the least of the things I’ve seen that hold us back,” says DeSantis.

DeSantis was scheduled to meet with President Joe Biden on WednesdayBiden landed in southwest Florida just before 1pm