Officials: Historic Sanibel Lighthouse in no danger of crumpling into the Gulf after Helene

Hurricane Helene's surge soaked Sanibel almost two years to the day after Hurricane Ian walloped the island's historic lighthouse.

Ian's force broke one of the 140-year-old structure's leg, washed away its two vintage buildings and eroded the nearby beach.

Did Helene finish what Ian started?

Not at all, island officials say.

In fact, the restoration work and sand replacement that happened in the intervening years post-Ian likely kept things from being much worse.

"The beaches held up and did exactly what they were supposed to," city spokesman Eric Jackson wrote in a text.

Plus, the structure itself benefitted from some $840,000 in repairs that replaced the broken leg, struts, tie rods and a ladder plus got it a new coat of protective paint.

What happened between Ian and Helene?

In addition to fortifying its beaches with an island-wide sand berm, Sanibel has been working with the U.S. Army Corps and the state of Florida to get permits to put sand not just above the average high tide line, but below it as well.

And that lower level can be bureaucratically tricky.

The state's emergency order for Ian was for sand above mean high water − "so that's high up on the beach," the city's Natural Resources Director Holly Milbrandt said, "There's a whole different permitting process to be able to place sand below mean high water."

The good news? "We were able to secure emergency permits ... to do additional sand placement below mean high water, and we started some of that work in April," she said, "And it was great that we did that because it provided extra protection (for the lighthouse)"

Plus, the lighthouse structure was repaired, and the structure's temporary prosthetic leg replaced with a new cast-iron limb.

The Sanibel Lighthouse landscape: Before and after

Ian carved off a huge slice of sand between the lighthouse and the water, and the city had been working to fill that in again.

Putting the Sanibel Lighthouse back toge What will it cost and how long will it take?

In photos taken after post-Ian work but before Helene, the replacement ridge is prominent.

Helene flattened the contours out a bit, Milbrandt says, but there's still plenty of sand between the lighthouse and the water's edge, and the structure is in no danger of crumpling into the Gulf, because "the beach there has been improved," Milbrandt said.

Funding remains, and the rest of that work will happen in November. Bottom line: "We are in much better shape than we were post-Ian," Milbrandt said.

When can people get back on the Lighthouse beach?

Crews have been working hard to clear all of the island's beaches, Jackson said, and they're getting there, but they're not done yet. So when can visitors return? Soon, Jackson says, but there's no definite timeline yet – it's still too early.

"I don't want to get people's hopes up," he said, "But what I was told is within the next couple of days and hopefully sooner."

Important point, he says: Beaches won't reopen all at once. "It will be as they're ready," Jackson said. And as the city does after any storm that closes beaches, it will put out releases to keep people updated.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Officials: Historic Sanibel Lighthouse in no danger of crumpling into the Gulf after Helene