Post-Hurricane Ian Update

As of the morning of Tuesday, October 11th:

Starting off with the Lee County bridge closures as stated by the NewsPress, last week the Matlacha bridge was repaired temporarily, allowing essential workers and residents to access the island. Florida awarded a contract for the Sanibel Causeway repairs and plans to reconnect the bridge by the end of October. So far, they have gotten over the first bridge and made their way to the first island, which is great news! Residents are now permitted on Fort Myers Beach, and transportation was available for those who may have required it over the weekend.

The next thing we are going to cover is power outages. According to LCEC this morning, there are a little over 8,000 people without power in Cape Coral and about 4,000 without power in North Fort Myers. For Fort Myers, FPL has reported that 99% of power has been restored. 

As for curfews, On the report of NewsPress Pine Island, and Captiva have a curfew of 9PM - 6AM, Sanibel has a curfew of 7PM - 7AM, Bonita Beach has a curfew of 7PM - 7AM. Fort Myers and Bonita Springs have rescinded their county-wide curfew. As of this morning Cape Coral has also rescinded their curfew according to capecoral.gov.

Once again, thanks to the NewsPress, we now know that the boil water notice for Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres has been lifted. For Fort Myers, the notice has been lifted for 99% of the county. The areas that are still affected at this time are the Town & River neighborhood at McGregor and Cypress Lake Drive, North Trail RV along Old Orange River Blvd., and all of Siesta Isles, which includes Siesta Drive, Cutlass Drive, Deep Passage Lane, and Old Pelican Drive.

So we are moving towards being back to our old community, one day at a time! 

The last thing we are going to talk about is the options our buyers have. Gulfside Lending, our preferred lender, offers 2 FHA insured products to help those affected by Hurricane Ian which are FHA 203(H) and FHA 203(K). FHA 203(H) offers 0% down and is specifically designed by those who are affected by the natural disaster. This product is for those that own or rent a primary home that was damaged or destroyed to the point where it requires reconstruction or full replacement. If this applies to you, you may be eligible for the disaster relief loan which we will talk about in just a minute. The other product, FHA 203(K) is for anyone whose home has been damaged and wants to renovate it, or for anyone who wants to buy a home AS IS. If you have any questions about either of these options, please contact us so we can help assist you. 

We would also like to provide some assistance programs in place to help those who have been displaced. The first one we know of is the Disaster Loan Assistance through the Small Business Administration. As a homeowner, renter, and/or personal property owner, you may apply to the SBA for a loan to help you recover from a disaster. To apply for this assistance loan, please visit www.disasterassistance.gov. The other assistance program we have found through the Small Business Administration offers disaster assistance in the form of low-interest loans to businesses, nonprofit organizations, homeowners, and renters located in regions affected by declared disasters. You can apply for this assistance loan by visiting https://disasterloanassistance.sba.gov/ela/s/.

As always, if you have any additional questions please feel free to respond to our email [email protected] or contact us here at the office at 239-542-2822. We are here to help!