Editing Sanibel, Florida (section)

===Hurricanes===
{{Further|Hurricane Charley|Hurricane Ian}}
Southwest Florida rarely suffers direct strikes by hurricanes, but every 20 or so years it takes a significant hit, and about every 40 years a major one. Most of these have affected Sanibel. On August 13, 2004, it was hit hard by [[Hurricane Charley]], a [[Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale|category four]] hurricane with {{convert|143|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on}} winds.<ref name="evac"/> It was the strongest to hit Southwest Florida since [[Hurricane Donna]] in September 1960.<ref name=charley>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F06E0D71631F936A15752C1A9639C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all |title=New York Times Travel |access-date= 2009-07-13 | work=The New York Times | first=Claire | last=Wilson | date=2005-11-25}}</ref> While much of the native vegetation survived, the non-indigenous [[Casuarina|Australian Pines]] suffered serious damage, blocking nearly every road. Wildlife officials reported that the nests of birds and [[sea turtle]]s were destroyed. The Sanibel Lighthouse suffered little damage, the Sanibel Causeway suffered relatively minor damage except for a tollbooth being tilted partly over, and a small [[seawall]] was eroded. Blind Pass was again cut through, but it refilled less than a month later. Residents who left before the August 13 storm were not allowed back by the city government until August 18, due to hundreds of downed trees and electric power lines, and the lack of potable water and sanitary sewerage. A temporary city hall for Sanibel was set up in a Fort Myers hotel until utilities and transport could be restored to the island.

On September 28, 2022, the island suffered extensive damage from [[Hurricane Ian]], which made landfall just to the north of the island as a strong category 4 storm. The [[Sanibel Causeway]] partially collapsed during the storm, leaving no road access to the island or nearby [[Captiva, Florida]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ian washed away part of Sanibel Causeway, Sanibel and Captiva cut off from mainland |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/hurricane-ian-washed-away-sanibel-causeway-sanibel-captiva/ |access-date=2022-09-29 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref>