CNN
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Anthony Grande moved from Fort Myers three years ago in large part because of the hurricane risk. He’s lived in southwest Florida for nearly 19 years, experienced Hurricanes Charley in 2004 and Irma in 2017 and seen what stronger storms can do to the coast.
Grande told CNN she wants to find a new home where developers prioritize climate resilience in a state that is especially vulnerable to hurricane surges, catastrophic winds and historic it’s raining.
What he found was the Babcock Ranch – only 12 miles northeast of Fort Myers, but seemingly light years away.
Babcock Ranch calls itself “America’s first solar-powered town.” Its nearby solar array — made up of 700,000 individual panels — generates more electricity than a 2,000-home neighborhood uses, in a state where most electricity is generated by burning natural gas. , a planet-warming fossil fuel.
The streets of this well-planned neighborhood are designed to flood so that the houses do not flood. Native landscaping along roads can help control storm water. Power and internet lines are buried to prevent wind damage. This is all in addition to establishing Florida’s strong building codes.
Some residents, like Grande, have installed multiple solar panels on their roofs and added battery systems as additional protection from power outages. Many drive electric vehicles, taking full advantage of the Sunshine State’s solar energy.
Climate resilience is built into the fabric of the city with stronger storms in mind.
So with Hurricane Ian headed toward southwest Florida this week, it’s a real test for the community. The storm lashed the nearby Fort Myers and Naples areas with record-breaking surges and winds of more than 100 mph. It cut power to more than 2.6 million customers in the state, including 90% in Charlotte County.
But the lights stay on at Babcock Ranch.
“It certainly exceeded our expectations of a major storm,” Grande, 58, told CNN.
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The storm uprooted trees and tore shingles from roofs, but other than that Grande said there was no major damage. Its residents say Babcock Ranch is proof that an eco-conscious and solar-powered town can withstand the wrath of a near-Category 5 storm.
“We have proof in the case today because [the hurricane] came over us,” Nancy Chorpenning, a 68-year-old resident of Babcock Ranch, told CNN. “We have water, electricity, internet – and we’re probably the only people in Southwest Florida who are lucky.”
Grande said Hurricane Ian arrived in southwest Florida “like a freight train.” But he wasn’t afraid of losing everything in a storm, like he had been when he lived in Fort Myers.
“We are very, very blessed and fortunate not to experience what they are experiencing right now on Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach,” Grande said. “In the times we live in now with climate change, the coast is not the place to live or have a business.”
Syd Kitson, a former professional football player for the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, is the mastermind behind Babcock Ranch. Kitson envisions it as an eco-conscious and innovative neighborhood that is safe and resilient from storms like Ian.
The ranch broke ground in 2015 with the construction of the solar array – built and operated by Florida Power and Light – and its first residents moved into town in 2018. Since then, the array has doubled in size and housed thousands of people. made Babcock their home.
“This is a great case study to show that it can be done right, if you build in the right place and do it the right way,” said Lisa Hall, a spokeswoman for Kitson, who also lives at Babcock Ranch. .
“Throughout all of this, there are a lot of people who say, ‘this is working, this is the vision, this is why we moved here,'” Hall told CNN.
Perhaps the highest endorsement for the city is that it was a haven for some of the victims Ian hit hardest. The state opened the Babcock Neighborhood School as an official shelter, although it did not have a mandated generator. A solar array keeps the lights on.
Some of Chorpenning’s friends who live on Sanibel Island — now cut off from the mainland after Hurricane Ian’s severe storm surge cut off access — came to a friend’s house at Babcock Ranch. It will be a while before they can return, he said.
“They’re going to rent a place here for a while, while they figure out what’s going to happen there,” he said. “I joke that we might be the only people in southwest Florida whose property values have gone up.”
Even Kitson chose to ride the storm in Babcock to see how the storm community was doing. Kitson declined CNN’s request for an interview; Hall said he is focused on helping neighboring communities rebuild.
“He was there during the storm; he said, ‘where am I?’” Hall said. “We built it to be durable and as much as you plan and think you’ve done the right thing, you don’t know until you try it.”
As utilities scramble to restore power across the state, Babcock residents say September’s storms show America’s energy infrastructure is ill-equipped to handle increasingly severe storms. weather event. Hurricane Fiona destroyed the power grid in Puerto Rico when it made landfall there on September 18. Now, Ian has left millions of people in the dark in Florida.
Babcock residents say their neighborhood is a model for future urban development damaged by climate change.
“It’s not like it was 20 or 25 years ago; the storms are getting bigger and bigger, and it’s not surprising, because all the warnings are there,” Grande said. “I think the future of Babcock Ranch is even brighter.”