Florida’s loss of life and property damage from Hurricane Ian surely resonates with anyone in Mississippi and Louisiana who has experienced damage from our own powerful storms, from Katrina in 2005 to Ida on Labor Day 2021.
Here’s something else that will resonate with hurricane survivors: A community in Florida, about 15 miles from where Ian came ashore near Fort Myers, emerged with little damage — and no loss of electricity or water service.
The place is called Babcock Ranch, and it was part of a “60 Minutes” segment about the impact of Hurricane Ian on Florida’s southern Gulf Coast.
Homes on barrier islands just off the Fort Myers shoreline have been destroyed by winds and water. Families have lost everything. “60 Minutes” showed a street on one island whose blacktop had been washed away by the storm.
The experience at Babcock Ranch was completely different. In fact, the program showed residents there relaxing on a sunny October day on their front porches, seemingly without a care in the world.
Ian’s winds uprooted a few trees at Babcock Ranch and tore some shingles away from roofs. But flooding was limited to streets because the homes were intentionally built on a higher base. Given that 2.6 million customers lost electricity during the hurricane while Babcock Ranch didn’t, the planning that went into the property is sure to draw more interest.
Babcock Ranch’s began construction in 2015 with a solar power array, built and run by the local utility, Florida Power & Light. As 5,000 people have since moved there, the array has doubled in size to 700,000 panels.
“The streets in this meticulously planned neighborhood were designed to flood so houses don’t,” read a story from CBS News in Miami. “Native landscaping along roads helps control storm water. Power and internet lines are buried to avoid wind damage. This is all in addition to being built to Florida’s robust building codes.”
One resident noted that the hurricane went right over Babcock Ranch, but because of the advance planning, it was among few communities in that part of Florida that avoided catastrophic damage.
Credit for the development goes to Syd Kitson, whose career includes time in the NFL, playing for both Green Bay and Dallas. CBS said Kitson wanted to create an ecologically conscious community that would be safe and resilient when hurricanes arrived. Based on these reports, he has succeeded marvelously.
Of course, “60 Minutes” didn’t get into the most obvious question about Babcock Ranch: What does all this advance planning cost? When you start talking about coastal building codes, solar power and underground electricity lines, along with higher property values in Florida, it sounds like an expensive proposition.
Still, Babcock Ranch has passed its first test — and surely offers valuable lessons for many other residents who live in coastal areas and know they’re vulnerable to hurricanes.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
