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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Sanibel Update from Jennifer

Sanibel Update from Jennifer

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We have an update from J. (Jennifer) after their trip back to Sanibel.  It’s amazing that The Sanibel Causeway, the bridge linking Sanibel to Fort Myers, is scheduled to open for residents in late October.

Still, tears are running down my face as I put together this post.  The sludge, the smell, seeing your home and nearly everything in it destroyed, what a terrible blow that must be for J. and for thousands of others.

One way to help J. and the people and businesses of Sanibel is to buy one or more of her books or her 2023 Sanibel Island Mysteries calendar. Half of all the money she receives from sales this month will go to local charities helping survivors and small businesses.

A lot of people in my life will be getting Sanibel mysteries and calendars for Christmas. ~WaterGirl

In case you missed the first post:

Sanibel: What Do You Do When You May Have Lost Everything?

From J.

After two failed attempts and spending over four hours in traffic to get to Fort Myers, my husband and I arrived on Sanibel late Tuesday morning via a fishing boat (cost? $450). We then had to pick our way over uprooted trees and debris to our house in 90-degree weather.

We arrived at our house to find the exterior looking mostly okay, though the area around our house looked like a bomb had detonated. Which, in a way, it had. And we couldn’t get in. We tried every door and used WD-40, but the doors wouldn’t budge.

We finally got the little door to the guest bathroom open but couldn’t access the house because the pocket door leading to the guest room was sealed shut. So my husband kicked it down.

What we found inside was sickening. Every room, every surface, was covered in foul-smelling sludge. Furniture had been tossed around like it was nothing. Even heavy appliances. It was chaos. Only items in the upper cabinets of the kitchen were okay. Everything else on the first floor, gone, destroyed. Including the artwork on the walls and my car, which we had left in the garage.

We made our way upstairs to our bedroom and, to our vast relief, our little second floor was okay. The clock ticking — the boat captain needed us back on the beach in two hours — we hastily grabbed what we could of our clothes and toiletries, shoved everything into two mud-covered suitcases, and left, exhausted.

The Sanibel Causeway, the bridge linking Sanibel to Fort Myers, is scheduled to open for residents on 10/21, which is incredible, though we just heard the opening may be delayed. And there will be miles-long lines to cross. But as soon as we can, we plan to go to try to salvage what we can.

We have still not heard from an insurance adjuster, but we received some money from FEMA and have been able to save money by crashing at a friend’s unoccupied vacation home. But our house was condemned, and we know we will not receive enough money from insurance to rebuild it. Still, we know we are luckier or more fortunate than many.

If you would like to help me and the people and businesses of Sanibel and those affected by Hurricane Ian, please consider buying one (or more) of my books and/or the 2023 Sanibel Island Mysteries calendar. Half of all monies I receive from October sales will go to local charities helping survivors and small businesses.

Thank you.

J./Jennifer

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  3. 3.

    CarolPW

    I’m nearly through the third Sanibel mystery, and will keep going. Aiming to finish the set (reading or buying) by the end of the month. Good luck.

    The trashing of the house is one thing and bad enough, but the stinking is insult upon injury.

  5. 5.

    Dan B

    Its shocking to see your pictures especially the high water mark.  Thanks for donating to others in need.  May it return to your benefit.

    Is it possible to build something much smaller on your property that would be large enough for bare minimum needs?  There are some wonderful prefab tiny homes.  No need to answer this question if it would add stress.

  7. 7.

    Steeplejack

    I believe Jennifer nixed this before, but—hear me out—I wish she would reconsider doing a GoFundMe project or something similar. The book royalties, while helpful, are small, and I presume there is some delay in Amazon paying them (?). I believe a fund drive would net more money and get it to the people who need it more quickly.

  8. 8.

    Elizabelle

    Jennifer:  I am so sorry.

    I wish a lot of resilience for you and your neighbors.  And join Dan B in hoping that you might be able to build a small home on your lot, if you and your husband decide to stay.

    With room for another bright red couch, perhaps.  At least a love seat or deep chair for reading.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    There are no words.   I hope that insurance will cover some of the costs, but we all know that mega corps have to make their money.

  10. 10.

    Anotherlurker

    @JPL: Prepare yourself to fight the insurance companies. Prepare to be pushed toward an SBA Disaster loan. Prepare to be offered to participate in a grant program for storm mitigation.

    Prepare to become familiar with the term “Duplication of Benefits”.

  12. 12.

    J.

    Hi, all. And thanks for the kind words and sympathy. To address some of your comments:

    • Our house suffered “Major Damage,” which means it will likely (pretty much definitely) need to be torn down and elevated. Not cheap. Even for a smaller house. We spent a fortune renovating the house over the last three years, literally redoing it inside and out, top to bottom, installing hurricane impact windows and doors, a new roof, new electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, new kitchen and bathrooms, and a generator, getting ripped off by two different contractors in the process. And because we survived several major storms without flooding or water in the past, we opted out of flood insurance last year. And even though we have a homeowners’ policy + hurricane and wind coverage, it’s unlikely we’ll see a dime. So rebuilding any size house is pretty much out of the question.
    • Regarding a GoFundMe, it is VERY hard for me to ask people for money except for a product or service that I feel worthwhile. Hence, my asking people to support my business rather than me. (Did I or WaterGirl mention that with Sanibel, Captiva, and Fort Myers Beach destroyed, I lost half of my business?)  In the long run, people buying my books and leaving nice reviews will help me/my business more than a few dollars via GoFundMe. Also, I’m a worrywart with a Depression-era soul and have an emergency fund. So we will not be sleeping in my car just yet. Which is a good thing as it was totaled and I’m not likely to get much for it, even though it was in mint condition with only 16,666 miles on it.
    • And YES, I only make a few bucks or a bit more from Amazon, less from other online bookstore sales (because the Republicans who own the company that distributes books to bookstores give next to nothing to authors), but, as I wrote above, at least I’m giving you something for your money. And selling books makes me feel good.

    Hope that explains the situation.

    xo,

    J.

  13. 13.

    Salty Sam

    @Steeplejack:  I believe Jennifer nixed this before, but—hear me out—I wish she would reconsider doing a GoFundMe project…

    Jennifer, listen to Steeplejack.  Having gone through a similar disaster (Hurricane Harvey), I can tell you that, unequivocally, YOUR FRIENDS WANT TO HELP YOU!   You will actually be doing them (and us) a favor, because we sit here watching you go through the wringer, and want to help, but don’t have a way to do so.  Throw us a line!

    Seeing those pics and hearing of your journey to get to your home brings back hard memories. ..

  14. 14.

    Mai Naem mobile

    This looks absolutely awful. I would start bawling if I had to deal with this. I hope you get all the help you need getting all this taken care of as quickly as possible. I also agree with Steeplejack – do a gofundme.

  15. 15.

    J.

    @Another Scott: I give money to FISH, a great organization, and will be donating part of what I raise to them, Community Housing Resources (CHR), and other local charities. :-) (Every year I give a chunk of my earnings to a half-dozen or more local charities. Just umping the amount this year.)

  16. 16.

    Kim Walker

    I’m sorry for your loss. I’ve ordered the first 2 books for my daughter’s birthday next month. They are just the sort of books she would like. And Christmas is coming.

  17. 17.

    J.

    @Anotherlurker: We are expecting to receive ZERO from insurance, but FEMA gave us some money, which we weren’t expecting, which was nice. And I don’t want to get into with with the SBA — don’t like their loans and probably don’t qualify.

  19. 19.

    WaterGirl

    I am sitting here thinking that when someone needs help, and they tell you what they need, and you are inclined to help… that the thing to do is give them the help they asked for.

    With Sanibel being a disaster at the moment, I can’t imagine people who live there are buying books and calendars.  People like my sister who would have gone there last week can’t go because they can’t even get to the island.  So they aren’t buying books and calendars.

    It seems to me that the last thing J. needs right now is for her book income to be cut in half, or worse.  I know nothing of the book market, but I am guessing that could impact everything for a long time to come – do they still choose to promote your books, or do they promote some other book that is selling better?

    It seems to me that trying to sell books and calendars is a triage move.  They lost their home.  They likely aren’t going to get insurance money.  I would like to see us help stabilize the one remaining thing – book sales, income from sales, reputation as writing books that people are buying – that can help J. get on more solid ground.

    No matter how well intentioned, the last thing I would want if I were J. would be to have people telling me I’m doing it wrong.

    That’s my two cents, for what it’s worth.

  20. 20.

    Steeplejack

    @J.:

    I won’t press you further, but I feel safe in saying that no one in the jackaltariat would begrudge a fundraiser for you and the other Sanibel residents. You would be helping a lot of people, and I probably would feel better with a fund “curated” by you instead of contributing to some generic (but worthy!) charity—which no doubt has overhead and red tape of its own. Sometimes I 👀 when I see the amounts we raise for scruffy dogs and cats (joke!), and this would be so much more than that. I hope you’ll reconsider, but I won’t harangue you any more.

    ETA: Think of it as “paying it forward.” When you’re back on your feet, you can contribute generously to all the future BJ causes that come along.

  21. 21.

    Another Scott

    @J.: Good to know.  I just sent them a donation and bought your island series on Kindle (I don’t have any more book space, unfortunately!  :-)

    I’m very sorry you’re going through all that – I can’t imagine how heartbreaking it must be.  Hang in there, and I hope the recovery is quick and complete.

    Good luck!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    Anotherlurker

    @J.: I was damaged in Superstorm Sandy. I really wish that my house was totaled, but I took what insurance offered.

    You sound a lot more intelligent than me. I fell for the SBA loan. I wanted $5,000.00 to cover what insurance refused to pay. I was talked into taking $40,000.00. I enrolled in a program to raise my house up, I qualified for $120,000 grant.  That amount would cover the cost of raising the house.  However, the amount that the insurance paid out was subtracted from the amount of the grant.  That is Duplication of benefits.

    Because of this and other traps, including an SBA Disaster loan, I became suicidal and saw nothing left to live for.  I received nothing but contradictory advice from all parties involved.

    The end result is that my house was foreclosed.  My finances were ruined and my savings destroyed.

    I did find a good therapist. The one good result of the entire Superstorm nightmare.

    I am no longer suicidal but I’m now 70 and, for the most part, broke.

    From what I have read about you, you are intelligent and organized.

    Question everything about storm recovery.

  25. 25.

    J.

    @Steeplejack: I hear you. Please go ahead and give money directly to Sanibel organizations. I recommend FISH, CHR, SCCF, CROW, and the Sanibel Library Foundation. There’s also the Harry Chapin Food Bank — and various businesses running GoFundMes. I give thousands to these organizations every year and will be giving a second time. But I totally understand you and others wanting to cut out the middle person. 😘

  28. 28.

    WaterGirl

    @J.: I don’t think they are looking to cut out the middle person.

    I think they are looking for ways to put MORE money in YOUR pocket, as well as help others.

    You are the one who is part of our community here.

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    Just bought two paperbacks. So sorry for your situation. My Czech teacher back in the 1980s used to vacation on Sanibel, and she made it sound like paradise.

  30. 30.

    J.

    @Anotherlurker: OMG. I am so, so sorry to read this. That is beyond awful — and why I am steering clear of an SBA and other loans. My heart is breaking for you. 😓 As awful as our situation is, it isn’t that… At least not yet. Thanks for sharing. ❤️

    P.S. We suffered through Sandy and multiple blizzards that knocked our power out for a week at a time and caused our roof to leak when we lived in CT but never experienced anything like this.

  32. 32.

    Anotherlurker

    @J.: Thank you.  I am pulling for you and yours thru the coming ordeal.

    I am still able to work part time in my career field.  It is sports television as an audio tech and my function is quite physical. It pays well enough so that 4 days work pays most of my rent.

    Good luck in the storm recovery.  If you feel like it keep us posted on your progress, every now and then.

    I will be looking at your Sanabel Mysteries. I can always use something good to read.

    BTW are you familiar with the Benjamin January series by Barbara Hambly?

  33. 33.

    raven

    I got the Fishy book yesterday. My friend’s house is Cape Coral escaped mostly because it was built to code after Andrew. They moved their next door neighbors in with them for the foreseeable future.  They were luck and prepared with flood insurance, a rarity.

  34. 34.

    raven

    Just buy a bunch of stuff and give it as gifts. I got a couple of calendars for my step mom. Her house in Phoenix is decorated with Sanibel Shells.

  35. 35.

    randy khan

    When I was in Boy Scouts as a kid, we made two trips to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania after Hurricane Agnes had come through and devastated the area.  Just like on Sanibel, houses were filled with sludge and mud, ruining everything.  And I remember how grateful people were to have us there to pull stuff out of their basements and houses so that they didn’t have to.  (I kind of felt guilty that they were grateful, honestly, but in retrospect I think what mattered to them was that they weren’t doing it alone.)

  37. 37.

    Betty Cracker

    Those pictures, holy moly, especially the high water mark on the wall. What a heartbreaking situation. I’m so sorry, and I’m wishing you both strength and courage for the days ahead.

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