Explore aerial images of Hurricane Ian’s damage to the Florida coast

Hurricane Ian made landfall near Fort Myers, Fla., as a high-end Category 4 storm, lashing the region with storm surges, heavy winds, and intense rainfall.

Newly released aerial imagery from NOAA now reveals the extent of the damage along portions of Florida’s coast around Fort Myers, Cape Coral and Punta Gorda.

Cape

Coral

Areas of

aerial survey

Fort Myers

Sanibel Island

Detail

Before Hurricane Ian

To Punta

Rassa

To Sanibel Island

Sept. 29

1,000 FEET

Cape

Coral

Areas of aerial survey—

Fort Myers

Sanibel Island

Detail

Sept. 29

Before Hurricane Ian

To Punta

Rassa

1,000 FEET

To Sanibel Island

Cape

Coral

Areas of aerial survey—

Fort Myers

Sanibel Island

Detail

Before Hurricane Ian

Sept. 29

To Punta

Rassa

1,000 FEET

To Sanibel Island

A causeway connecting to the barrier island of Sanibel was wiped out by the storm, isolating residents. Rapid development in the area has placed more and more new construction in harms way, although the state’s construction codes were strengthened after Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992. While some areas – especially mobile home and RV parks – appear heavily battered, most buildings in the area remain intact, although with undetermined amounts of flood damage.

Explore the imagery below.

  1. Select area
  2. Palmetto Palms
  3. Tropicana
  4. Tarpon Point Marina
  5. Sanibel Causeway
Images after Ian

Reuben Fischer-Baum and Tim Meko contributed to this report.