Sanibel Causeway, which collapsed during Hurricane Ian, faces extreme storm surge from Milton

A critical causeway on the west coast of Florida that was destroyed by Hurricane Ian just two years ago could face a similar fate from Milton.

Transcript

00:00I'm storm chaser Mike Scantland right now standing on the Sanibel Causeway

00:04here now this is the Sanibel Harbor and the Sanibel Causeway connects Fort

00:08Myers proper mainland with Sanibel Island and then the split off to the

00:13north goes to Punta Rossa and then Pine Island as well here just to the north

00:16here Fort Myers Beach just to our south right where I'm standing actually is

00:20where Hurricane Ian the storm surge from Hurricane Ian undercut this causeway

00:26causing partial collapse here right where I'm standing and you can see

00:30they're still working on it they're either still working on the damage from

00:32Hurricane Ian or it has been damaged again either from Hurricane Debbie or

00:36Hurricane Helene here just in the last couple weeks to a couple months here so

00:40right now they actually have construction crews that are just now

00:42finishing up here on this construction and they are getting out of here and I

00:45don't blame him this is going to be an area where we see extreme storm surge

00:50this will be catastrophic storm surge here on the Sanibel Causeway into Fort

00:54Myers Beach and as far north as the center of the circulation will allow

00:59we'll have that onshore flow there will be catastrophic storm surge and likely

01:03permanent changes here to the landscape here this will be a generational storm

01:08this storm will be talked about for decades here for this area is officially

01:12back to category 5 status here as of 5 p.m. here on Tuesday unfortunately this

01:17area is no stranger to extreme storm surge here even recently as I said so

01:22hopefully that's fresh on the minds here the locals and people are not

01:25taking any chances if you're here if you're somewhere south of Tampa all the

01:29way to Naples not taking those evacuation orders seriously I'm begging

01:33you get out of town do not chance it with this storm this this is going to be

01:37a big deal for AccuWeather I'm storm chaser Mike Scantlin