Causeway connecting Florida mainland to island crumbled into ocean

Hurricane Ian's strength wiped out Florida's Sanibel Island Causeway. CNN affiliate WBBH reports. #CNN #News

75 comments

    1. @Ministry Of Truth couldโ€™ve put โ€œdollarsโ€ in quotations if you were really about truth. just a tinfoil hat huh

    2. 0:34 – Speaks volumes about poor engineering standards (esp govt design/build projects). This type of primary access bridge should’ve been constructed to withstand Cat 5s (the standard for so many other bridges in southern Florida).

  1. Sorry mate, it was not the Bridge that collapsed.
    It was 50/60 feet of coastal erosion that took the approach to the bridge.

    1. Speaks volumes about poor engineering standards (esp govt design/build projects). This type of primary access bridge/road should’ve been constructed to withstand even cat 5 erosion (the standard for so many other bridges in southern Florida).

    2. it’s not just the 50 60 feet of approach , the whole 3 miles before that took hits of coastal erosion and will take at least 2 days of crews working non stop to fix it. thus making access to the other towns more complicated . the problem 8s not the road , but the issues of supply and rescue ,access and reconstruction for that area and the towns that bridge connects to.

    3. It does appear the three bridges are still standing but the causeway that connects them is mostly gone. It’s going to take years of work to reopen that.

    4. @Max Zomboni “It does appear the three bridges are still standing but the causeway that connects them is mostly gone. It’s going to take years of work to reopen that.”

      To fix that one little bridge approach, nah, a week maybe if they have good access for men/materials/equipment.

      If the 10, 20, 100 miles up the road is also stuffed, well then that could add a year or two to the job in that they don’t start the approach fix till all that is fixed.

    5. โ€‹@Peter T This video does not show the full extent of the damage. It’s not one little bridge approach. It’s breached at multiple points. Right now they have three individual bridge spans connected to nothing. The fastest fix would probably be to just build more bridge to connect the spans. It absolutely positively will not be fixed in a week, or even a month.

    1. Yes. I have a friend who lived there for over 20 years. Too bad the ferry or a boat isn’t still the only way to get there.

    1. I stayed in Florida for 6 months about 7 years ago and I’m told that if I had landed anywhere else in America that I would hold the USA in higher regard than I do now.. but sadly I landed in Miami and worked my way up to Jacksonville and clearly every low-life in America percolates down to FL like rates on the end of a burning rope with nowhere else to go. To say that I’m not a fan of Florida has to be the understatement of the FN century.

    2. @John Anderson Lived there for years and moved out 5 years ago. I wouldnโ€™t fly over that flacid shaped pecker if you paid me.

      This statement is ๐Ÿ’ฏ accurate!

    1. Here in the desert we never get floods hurricanes hardly any rain no earthquakes no fires there’s nothing to burn. We’re 3 hours from the beach of Rocky Point but nowhere near anything that can so much is blow down a mobile home

    2. โ€‹@Nicki Snyder if you referring to arizona , we do get floods every year, a lot of people die every year due to floods , we do get winds strong enough to take out houses every year .
      the whole state is always burning , let me remind you we lost 19 firemen once due to fires…
      there’s no earthquakes or hurricanes, but every year we lose a lot of people due to the extreme heat .
      we are getting slow cooked out here. ๐Ÿ˜’

  2. Welcome to the Caribbean life Florida. Hope people realize, that side of Florida is below sea level. Disaster like this can happen again in the future

    1. @streetreleaseboner Good points. My comment was designed to point the abuse of Florida taxpayers funds. Anyone who fails the IQ Test, I’ll sell a flight ticket for $12.300,- when everyone else is paying $300,- to $400,- for the same trip.

    2. @streetreleaseboner For the last 246 years? LOL. I have respect for all valued viewers on YouTube and save them from a miles-long writing……..

    1. You think you are thinking

      Lots of thought went into that one

    2. Honestly radar is so under appreciated, 1900 no radar no hurricane planes, just outside picking oranges and the sky gets dark.

  3. Anybody who decides to “ride out” a cat 4 or 5 hurricane is an absolute fool. Living in NE Fl for most of my life I can’t remember all the hurricanes I rode out but that’s mostly due to they don’t hit that area directly that often. Most that come in that direction tend to turn north before they make landfall, but if they called for a cat 4 or5 I would have high tailed it outta there. I remember when Katrina hit….it was coming straight in as a cat 5; that’s like a locomotive slamming into your house at 165 MPH. The ones that come straight in are the most dangerous. I kept wishing all those in this one and Katrina to listen to the news and leave but sadly a lot of people believe they are tougher than ma nature.

    1. Alot of people can’t just leave.. if they want to send out a mandatory evacuation they need to have buses sent to the community and allow people to bring their animals. Otherwise blaming people for staying and calling them fools, is wrong.

    2. @Alexandra Cole It depends what type of local government you have. We have shelters, special needs shelters staffed with nurses and doctors, oxygen, etc. Our stations ran non-stop coverage and steps to take. They also said that if you needed to or wanted to evacuate, just call them and they would pick them up and take them to shelters and they did. President was asked for help and we had convoys of tree cutters and electrical workers waiting just outside of Florida from every state and even Canada. Just waiting until the storm passed and the roads were cleared enough for them to get through. They had come down before the storm ever hit. Believe me, Florida is not Louisiana Some people don’t evacuate because they fear their home will be looted. When Superstorm Sandy hit the north, a woman, her husband, and her daughter all stayed at home after being told to evacuate. A previous hurricane they had evacuated and came back to see their belongings all gone. Looters. When Sandy hit, they decided to stay to protect their home. The husband and daughter died, and the woman was barely saved from electrocution and drowning by some very brave people. She also lost her entire house and all her possessions. Things are not worth it. Take your important documents and pictures. I know she would say today hang the house and everything else. Let’s get out of here.

  4. I’m from the Virgin Islands it’s terrible that hurricane hit Florida but the hard part is the aftermath๐Ÿ˜ฒ

  5. The bridge is fine, it is the causeway / the earthen lead up to the bridge that is damaged. Quick fix, bring in fill, bulldozer / level, pave, add jersey barriers / guardrails, paint line, good to go.

    1. quick fix ? ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ๐Ÿคฃ is gonna take at least 5 days .
      5 days for the people on the other side of that bridge is gonna be life threatening, and thats the sense of urgency as to why report on that section being washed away. not because a road is important, but because of the affected people and the risks they will run ,by that road being damaged.

    2. @jlbueno0611 A bridgelayer tank could bridge that in a couple of hours temporary. And thats probably what will happen. The long term fix will take longer for sure looking at the visible erosion around it.

    3. @MStrange88 boats will transport immediate light stuff, same as helicopters… but all the tons of equipment and water and supplies need to go in semis… all the heavy stuff won’t get there as quick as it’s needed.

    4. It’s not going to be a quick fix. It’s going to take probably at least a year to being in that much fill and rebuild the roadway. If they were smart they wouldn’t even try. Instead they should just build more bridge to connect the existing spans. If they rebuild the causeway the same thing will happen again at some future time.

  6. That was the approach to the bridge, built on sand, the surge likely exceeded the break barrier and just ate away at the sand. Better barrier farther inland & riprap would have helped… the proper bridge portion looks like it survived just fine with good foundations.

  7. I wonder how this one compares to Hurricane Andrew back in the 80โ€™s ?
    I had a cousin who worked for State Farm at the time and he was in Florida for 3 years working on insurance claims. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ

  8. Those of us who lived through Ike and Harvey understand how the people of Florida are feeling. We will be sending assistance your way. From Houston

    1. Can’t imagine anyone living in a place that is 7 ft above sea level. Especially during a time of ocean levels Rising. Might want to do some Google research before picking the next town you move to

    2. @Peter Pain Somebody asked me once why I do not move to Galveston because I like the Strand so much.

      My answer is one number:

      1900!

  9. Strangely the warning came just 24 hours that forecasting Ian as category 4 , but days before that there was lots of different models and was forecasted to land as category 2 but that clearly proved that nature has itโ€™s own language and power much beyond anyoneโ€™s control

  10. There are three elevated spans in the Sanibel Causeway. Span A suffered bridge damage near the toll booth. The artificial island that begins Span B (fill sand) washed out. The second Island that begins Span C (fill sand) washed out and the end of Span C (Sanibel Island) also washed out. The Sanibel Causeway was built less than 20 years ago.

  11. Radar is so under appreciated, itโ€™s incredible what radar does for us! I couldnโ€™t imagine living in Florida 1850 just outside picking oranges and the sky gets dark. No clue how big, how fast, or where itโ€™s going, thatโ€™s why so many people died each time. Radar seriously saves lives! Incredible invention!๐Ÿคฉ

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