Five years ago on Sunday, September 10, 2017, Hurricane Irma (coincidentally, another "I" named hurricane) made landfall on Marco Island as a Category 3 hurricane with winds measuring up to 130 mph. The eye of the storm passed directly over Marco Island. While there are similarities in terms of rapid intensification experienced with Irma with Ian, the storm paths were different. Hurricane Irma took more of a due north approach from Cuba which spared Naples, Fort Myers and points along the Florida Gulf Coast to the north from greater devastation as they were on the "weaker" side of the storm and the center of the storm was over land. Irma was more of a wind event even though Marco Island did experience storm surge of 3 feet, much less than the originally projected 15 ft. Marco Island experienced significantly lower wind gusts with Hurricane Ian since the eye of the storm passed further to the west, but the prolonged southwesterly direction of the winds once it passed by the island caused higher storm surge of 6 feet or more. Hurricane Ian made landfall further north as as a strong Category 4 hurricane near Sanibel and Captiva with winds measuring approximately 155 mph. We are now seeing the heart-wrenching images of communities in Charlotte and Lee Counties as well as northern Collier in the Naples area due to the catastrophic winds, high storm surge and heavy rains.
Power and communications were out for several days on Marco Island following Hurricane Irma while recovery, cleanup, and repairs where underway. By Friday, September 15, approximately 70% of the island had power and by Monday, September 18, the boil water notice was lifted. My DW and I were able to visit Crystal Shores on October 7-18, 2017 following Irma so it took less than a month for the resort to resume partial operations. We were fortunate that our reservations were not cancelled. At that time only the original Egret building which is located closest to the Gulf was open. Crystal Shores was only honoring weeks and points owner reservations with Gulf Front and Gulf Side views. The newer Osprey building had been scheduled to open in September, but was damaged due to Hurricane Irma so its opening was delayed until repairs were completed.
It remains to be seen how quickly Crystal Shores will reopen following Hurricane Ian since its effects were different from Irma, but I know the management and staff there are extremely dedicated and will work hard to make the property safe and ready as quickly as possible for occupancy to be enjoyed by their guests. Marco Island is a special place and we've become friends with several of the Crystal Shores staff and area restaurant owners visiting each year since 2009. Unfortunately, we were scheduled to visit Crystal Shores beginning this coming Sunday for two weeks and I suspect we will be unable to make the trip this year. Here is one video providing an example of the storm surge experienced on Marco Island which was posted today on you tube:
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My thoughts and prayers are with all the residents in Florida and the southeast affected by this storm.
