Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez visited Sanibel and Captiva islands Tuesday, Oct. 15, to speak with government and business leaders in the wake of two serious tropical storms this fall, two years after monster Hurricane Ian hit in 2022.
“I feel like the back-to-back storms really made people pay attention to the warning and do a better job of preparing,” Nunez told Sanibel City Manager Dana Souza, Sanibel Mayor Richard Johnson, and SanCap Chamber president and Chief Executive Officer John Lai at an informal meeting at the chamber visitor center that kicked off an island tour with the state official.
The island leaders agreed they saw more compliance to evacuation orders with Hurricane Milton on Oct. 9. “We learned a lot from Ian….” said Souza. “[Residents] learned that storm surge doesn’t always fall apart.”
The threesome praised roles the Florida Department of Transportation played in traffic control during Tropical Storm Helene on Sep. 26 and the island government in getting people back to the island in record time after Milton.
The lieutenant governor asked for honest feedback about things that don’t work for recovery at the state level.
“For us it’s going to be the resiliency issues and what funding is there for the future,” said Souza, adding more cooperation is needed between state and federal levels. “The state permitted our permits very quickly. We still don’t have federal permits…. The state has provided everything we need to go and federal takes a year. It’s not acceptable on that level.”
In the bigger picture of day-to-day operations, Lai emphasized the need to bring island accommodations back more strongly and the importance of “letting the world know there are parts of Florida that we want people to visit still.”
“We have some campaigns we’re going to launch here on the island, and then Visit Florida, we’ll dovetail it with their campaign,” he said.
ABOUT SANCAP CHAMBER
The SanCap Chamber is dedicated to promoting the prosperity of its members and preserving the quality of life of our community. The Chamber plays a key role in facilitating communication and cooperation between business, residents, and government to enhance the economic health of the islands. Its website, sanibel-captiva.org, receives over 1.3 million visits per year. For more information about the chamber, visit sanibel-captiva.org or contact John Lai, president and CEO, at 239-472-2348 or [email protected].
