Hurricane Ian (September 2022) made landfall at Cayo Costa as a high-end Cat 4 and produced sustained eyewall winds in the 145-155 mph range across Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island, and Fort Myers Beach — locally exceeding the ASCE design value at the eyewall. This page reports the ASCE 7-22 map value for every Lee ZIP; the FBC R301.2(7) override status is being verified.
Calculating wind loads since 2002, online since 2006.
Lee County's basic wind speed for Risk Category II buildings, as read directly from ASCE 7-22 Figure 26.5-1, falls in the 160-165 mph contour band across the county's populated ZIPs. The exact value depends on which contour line the project location falls between — coastal Sanibel and Fort Myers Beach sit in the higher portion of the band, and inland Lehigh Acres lands in the lower portion as the contour grades north and east away from the open Gulf fetch.
Unlike neighboring Collier County (which carries a verified 170 mph FBC override) and the HVHZ counties to the south (Miami-Dade and Broward), Lee's status under Florida Building Code R301.2(7) is something we are still verifying. The question is binary: either Lee publishes a county-specific jurisdictional wind speed that supersedes the ASCE map — in which case our lookup tool will eventually return it as an FBC override — or it does not, in which case the ASCE 7-22 map value is the legally enforceable design wind speed for permit submission. Until that verification is finished, this page reports the ASCE value.
Hurricane Ian made the answer to that question very visible. Post-Ian rebuilds in Lee County have driven significant scrutiny of whether existing design wind speeds capture the actual hazard, particularly on the barrier islands. The wind speed map itself has not changed since the ASCE 7-22 adoption, but FEMA flood zone remapping and Lee County's own post-Ian permit standards have tightened substantially around how structures must perform when wind and surge arrive together.
Cape Coral (33904) is the starting point — Lee's largest city by population, with the highest concentration of canal-front single-family construction in Florida. Type any Lee ZIP and the result re-computes immediately. The badge is brand blue today because no county-wide FBC R301.2(7) override is currently coded for Lee; if our verification work surfaces one, the badge will turn gold and the citation will appear inline.
Population centers in Lee fall along three corridors: the Cape Coral / North Fort Myers grid, the central Fort Myers / Lehigh Acres band, and the southern Bonita Springs / Estero / Sanibel coastal arc. Wind speed contour values are read from ASCE 7-22 Figure 26.5-1; the right column will get an FBC override entry once verification is complete.
| City | Primary ZIP | Wind Speed (Cat II) | Typical Setting | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Coral | 33904 | ASCE map value (FBC override verification pending) | Waterfront grid · canal network | ASCE 7-22 Fig 26.5-1 |
| Fort Myers | 33901 | ASCE map value (FBC override verification pending) | Inland of Caloosahatchee | ASCE 7-22 Fig 26.5-1 |
| Bonita Springs | 34134 | ASCE map value (FBC override verification pending) | Southern Lee · coastal-adjacent | ASCE 7-22 Fig 26.5-1 |
| Estero | 33928 | ASCE map value (FBC override verification pending) | Inland between Bonita and Fort Myers | ASCE 7-22 Fig 26.5-1 |
| Sanibel | 33957 | ASCE map value (FBC override verification pending) | Barrier island · Gulf exposure | ASCE 7-22 Fig 26.5-1 |
| Lehigh Acres | 33936 | ASCE map value (FBC override verification pending) | Inland eastern Lee | ASCE 7-22 Fig 26.5-1 |
Hurricane Ian made landfall on the morning of September 28, 2022 at Cayo Costa, a barrier island roughly 30 miles west of Fort Myers, as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum central pressure of 940 mb — among the strongest hurricanes ever to strike the contiguous US. The eye crossed Pine Island and tracked east across Cape Coral and North Fort Myers before dissipating inland. Sanibel Causeway collapsed at multiple points, severing road access to Sanibel and Captiva for weeks. Fort Myers Beach absorbed a 12-15 ft surge along Estero Boulevard that destroyed most ground-floor and many second-floor structures west of the highway, and Pine Island and Matlacha saw similar surge-plus-wind devastation. The reconstruction debate that followed reshaped Lee County's interpretation of the National Flood Insurance Program substantial-damage rules and forced a wave of buildings to either elevate to current BFE or be condemned.
Hurricane Charley (August 13, 2004) made landfall just north of Lee in Charlotte County's Punta Gorda as a compact, fast-moving Category 4 with 150 mph sustained winds. Charley's eyewall raked across northern Lee — Cape Coral and North Fort Myers — producing widespread roof and gable failures on pre-1992 construction and validating the post-Andrew code revisions that had reshaped southwest Florida construction over the prior decade. Where Ian's signature damage in Lee was surge, Charley's signature was pure wind, and the comparison between the two storms is the cleanest demonstration available of how the post-2002 Florida Building Code performs against a major hurricane that arrives without flooding.
Before Charley and Ian, Lee County had absorbed Donna (1960) and a series of mid-twentieth-century storms that shaped early local building practice. None of those storms produced the modern engineering data set that Charley and Ian did, but they remain part of why ASCE 7-22 places Lee in the contour band it occupies today.
Building permits in Lee County come from Lee County Community Development (unincorporated areas, which is most of the county including Sanibel, North Fort Myers, San Carlos Park, and much of the rural east), the City of Cape Coral Department of Community Development, the City of Fort Myers Permitting Division, the City of Bonita Springs Building Department, the Village of Estero, the Town of Fort Myers Beach, the City of Sanibel Building Department, and the City of Palm Beach Park. All currently enforce the Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023), which adopts ASCE 7-22 for wind loads.
What changed dramatically after Ian was the interaction between wind and flood requirements. Most coastal Lee County now sits in revised FEMA flood zones with higher Base Flood Elevations, and the NFIP's 50% substantial-damage rule means any structure damaged by more than half its market value must either be elevated to current BFE or demolished. For new construction or substantial reconstruction west of US 41 in southern Lee and across most of Sanibel, Captiva, Pine Island, and Fort Myers Beach, that means breakaway wall construction below the BFE, elevated structural systems above it, and detailed engineering of how lateral wind loads transfer through that elevated configuration into the pile or foundation system below.
Lee County also tightened its permit review process post-Ian to require certified inspection at multiple stages for elevated coastal construction, particularly around hurricane strap continuity from roof rafter to foundation. The wind speed input to the engineering calculation has not changed — it is still whatever the ASCE 7-22 map (or pending FBC override) specifies — but the burden of demonstrating that the structure actually realizes its calculated wind resistance has gone up substantially.
Basic wind speed: ASCE 7-22 Figure 26.5-1 map value. FBC R301.2(7) override status pending verification.
HVHZ status: Not HVHZ. Standard FL Product Approval applies.
Code edition: Florida Building Code 8th Edition (2023), ASCE 7-22 by reference
Permitting authorities: Lee County Community Development, City of Cape Coral, City of Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers Beach, City of Sanibel
Post-Ian: Significant FEMA flood zone remapping, elevated BFE requirements, breakaway walls below BFE, intensified inspection of hurricane strap continuity
Calculating wind loads since 2002, online since 2006.