Irma aftermath . . .

The island of Sanibel fared much better than had been expected during Hurricane Irma.  Irma was predicted to hit Sanibel head on, but turned about 50 miles south at Marco Island and went inland.  As a result, we didn't have a lot of rain and the wind mostly did damage to trees, instead of homes and businesses.  For the most part, most everyone evacuated off the island.  I wanted to share a few photos from around the neighborhood and the island.  It is amazing to see huge trees that either fell away from a home or parallel to the house, just missing it.  

We were walking out our front door when this "grabber" came by.  He was just making sure all debris was out of the roadway.  They will be back to start grabbing all of the vegetation debris and loading it up.  We waved and gave him a thumbs up!!  All the people working to clean up and fix the utilities have been working so hard!

This pile of vegetation is just from our yard and our neighbor's yard!!  You can't really see, but it starts at the right and goes around the circle to the left.

This tree fell away from our friend's pool and house!

These next few pics are at homes in our neighborhood of Gumbo Limbo.

This huge tree was destroyed at my friend's home.  Several other trees were damaged, too.

These next two pics are two trees in the same yard.  They were huge old trees.  Both managed to miss the home.

This tree was down in front of the Wells Fargo Bank.

The pic below is at the entrance to Casa Ybel Resort.  That is a HUGE tree!!

Not sure what type of lines these are, but they were almost touching the ground.  This is where the Causeway Blvd. meets Periwinkle.

The one below is across the street from the Sanibel Welcome Center.

Bailey Road took quite a beating!!  The crews are working hard!

Only a few restaurants are open, some with limited menus.  The ones that are open, like Sanibel Fresh below, have put out signs to let people know.

I hope to be able to get out and get some wildlife photos soon.  Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge had a lot of vegetation damage.  Workers are doing their best to get it cleaned up and safe for visitors as soon as possible.  I'm looking forward to being able to do something as normal as a drive through the refuge to take photos, again!