Sanibel: from tourist paradise to ''war zone'' 0:55
(CNN) --
Residents of Sanibel Island crossed the causeway Wednesday for the first time since Hurricane Ian damaged the only land access road to this popular Gulf Coast destination.
"The causeway is our lifeline, and without it we don't have a chance to go back to the island, to go back to our homes," said Troy Thompson, a longtime resident who runs Lazy Flamingo restaurants.
"We've been stranded in the city for three weeks and coming back means everything."
The causeway, which consists of three bridges and a road on two small artificial islands, was opened weeks earlier than initially planned and even two days earlier than the latest calculations said.
Before and after images show the destruction of Hurricane Ian on Sanibel Island, Florida
"We had an ambitious agenda and an ambitious roadmap to get it done," Governor Ron DeSantis said at a news conference in Fort Myers, noting that 100 crews did some 36,000 hours of work on the highway.
At least five sections of the highway, which connects Sanibel to the mainland, were washed away by Hurricane Ian, Lee County officials said.
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Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Secretary Jared Perdue said the bridges were largely undamaged, but "portions of the highway connecting the bridge structures had been damaged." swept away (by the hurricane)."
"A project like this, under normal circumstances, could take months. However, FDOT, along with our law enforcement partners from the Florida Highway Patrol, Lee County and the Florida Department of Emergency Management made use of of strategic and innovative techniques to rapidly rebuild the elevated highway," Perdue said.
(Credit: Andrew West/The News-Press/USA Today)
However, De Santis said the current repairs are a temporary fix.
"We will continue to work with the county on plans for permanent repairs to the elevated highway ... but we are pleased to be able to take the lead on the restoration," he said.
Two weeks ago, residents of the island were able to visit by boat for the first time since the Category 4 cyclone made landfall on September 29.
Hurricane Ian killed at least 115 people in Florida, 55 of them in Lee County, according to state officials.
The return of Sanibel residents to their homes
Julie Emig — who returned to Sanibel with her wife, Vicki Paskaly, on Oct. 5 — told CNN that day that they couldn't believe the destruction.
"It's incomprehensible that a storm, a hurricane, can sweep through like this in a few hours," he said.
As of Wednesday, only a caravan of hundreds of utility trucks had been allowed to pass on the elevated highway.
About 25% of Sanibel Island should have power back on this week, while northern parts of neighboring Captiva Island may not get power back until November, according to the governor.
Power could be restored at a school, a water plant and fire stations Thursday, the Lee County Electric Cooperative said Saturday on its website.
Sanibel Mayor Holly Smith told CNN affiliate WBBH that returning residents should do so with reasonable expectations.
"We still don't have water. We don't have sewage. We don't have power," the mayor said.
"So to think that you can come and live here like you normally did before is really an issue that I want people to be very cautious about."
A curfew is still in force on the island from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.