Sanibel Beach renourishment project moving 400K tons of sand

More than a year ago, an island known for lush green trees, fine white sand and beautiful views had its color washed away by Hurricane Ian’s storm surge.

Tuesday morning, WINK News witnessed trucks rumbling through the island, hauling the one thing that would help rebuild the beaches stronger than ever. They were the first loads of what will eventually be 400,000 tons of sand on the beach.

It’s all to ensure when the next storm comes, the island won’t be badly damaged.

The Sanibel rebuild has not been easy, but the sand going to the beach is helping a lot.

If another storm hits Sanibel, the sand will serve as a barrier protecting the island from heavy storm surge that could make its way inland like Ian’s did.

With winds over 130 mph and surge rising a shocking 12 feet, Hurricane Ian left a devasting impact on Sanibel, but as of Tuesday, a new recovery project is underway that is starting with over 400,000 tons of sand.

“Because of the impact of Hurricane Ian with the high storm surge that came in, and then as it receded, it just really put in all these gullies and low spots on the beach and took a lot of sand with it, so this project is about building back the beaches, getting that dune structure that we need to really help protect the island,” said Eric Jackson, City of Sanibel public information officer.