Gov. Ron DeSantis promises temporary fixes to Pine Island, Sanibel bridges

More than 130 Florida Department of Transportation trucks deployed Monday to begin working on a temporary bridge to replace the damaged one to Pine Island, Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a Monday stop in Cape Coral.

"This is not necessarily going to want to go 45 mph over maybe, but at least you connectivity to the mainland," DeSantis said.

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He said the goal is to have it completed by the end of the week.

FDOT also will work on a temporary fix for the Sanibel Causeway, DeSantis said. A request for bids is out, and no date was given for how long that is going to take.

DeSantis said it's not a permanent solution and will be more difficult because the causeway is "severed in more locations than Pine Island."

Electricity in Lee County

For an electricity update, DeSantis said FPL and Lee County have restored about 50% of the power.

Statewide 95% of customers have power, and DeSantis said that’s 2.1 million restored in a couple of days.

He said LCEC has not gotten to that level and is behind so he asked them to accept mutual aid. 

“At the end of the day, this is a more difficult restoration than what was being done in other parts of Florida," DeSantis said.

State officials reached out to the Florida Electric Cooperative Association to bring in an additional 1,000 linemen to help restore the power to Lee County. 

DeSantis said Florida had 42,000 linemen stationed throughout Florida before the storm hit and said many of them will be moved to Southwest Florida. 

He said the state will use the budget surplus to pay for linemen throughout Lee County. 

"I work with the Legislature to establish a Disaster Response Fund for the state of Florida, so we have $500 million budgeted for disasters," DeSantis said. 

The national guards will also start flying Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) electrical personnel to begin surveying the substations on the island and begin repairs. 

"Because we understand that it's important for the islands as well to get up and running, and at least let's diagnose the extent of the reconstruction if that's needed, then we need to get in there and know that," DeSantis said. 

The hope is to get a timeline for power restoration on Sanibel and Pine Island, DeSantis said.

Hurricane Ian water issues

Water main breaks have been an issue, and the governor said they are bringing an engineering firm to help fix this issue. 

"We're accepting the cost on that as the state even though it's not a state utility or anything the state really is involved with because we've got the resources and we have the sense of urgency," DeSantis said. 

The city of Cape Coral will also be provided with 100 generators to power pump and lift stations in the city's sewage system. 

Florida Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said they are shooting for 100% power and water restoration by next Sunday.