While surveying Lee County for damage caused by Hurricane Ian, Governor Ron DeSantis made a visit to Cape Coral on Monday night. CCPD

While surveying Lee County for damage caused by Hurricane Ian, Gov. Ron DeSantis made a visit to Cape Coral on Monday night.

According to the governor, more than 1,900 rescues have already been made. USAR teams have been going door to door, to check on occupants, in areas which were hit hard by the storm, such as the barrier islands, he said, and Emergency Management teams continue to bring large quantities of water, food and supplies.

“The new construction in Florida seemed to have held up very well. I thought with something coming in at 155 miles per hour there would be roofs everywhere,” DeSantis said.

There are 28 different pods in affected areas across Florida, including eight of them here in Lee County. Non-profit organizations,including Florida Baptist, Disaster Relief, Red Cross and World Central Kitchen, have lent a tremendous amount of support delivering hot meals, he said, adding 1.6 million gallons of fuel has been delivered to south Florida, although many gas stations that are too small to require generators, are without power. Statewide, he said, approximately 95 percent of utility customers (over 2.1 million) have had power restored so far.

“You saw major flooding, you saw major interruptions to critical infrastructure… by and large (those places) were in Southwest Florida,” DeSantis said, calling it a massive effort to get the power back on across the state.

Now it’s time to bring all the resources to everyone here, he said, reporting that 375 Starlink devices have been installed, to support internet access to impacted areas. The satellites, currently positioned over Southwest Florida, will allow phones and other devices online access. Other action being taken, he said, is the temporary bridge fix for Pine Island, which will allow cars to travel safely back and forth between the island and the mainland.

“They’re going to be able to get that done relatively quickly. This is not necessarily going to be a bridge you’re going to want to go over at 45 miles per hour over maybe, but at least you have connectivity to the mainland. Their goal is to have it completed by the end of this week…You’re going to now be able to have those residents be able to get back to (the mainland). They’re offering evacuations for those residents, but most of them want to be on the island. They just want to be able to go back and forth, so we’re gonna be able to do that, and I’m happy to do that…We also are going to try something similar for the causeway, going to Sanibel Island. So right now, Florida Department of Transportation is putting together a plan for a temporary fix, and there is a request for bids–emergency request for bids for the work,” DeSantis said.