BlockBefore

Punta Rassa, Florida

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1956 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Fort Myers census division. It lies in ZIP code area 33908. It lies near Fisherman Key. The Survey maps it on the Sanibel quadrangle. 1,620 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3 feet above sea level.

Punta Rassa within Lee County

Then and now

1956 to 1981

The same ground, surveyed 25 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Punta Rassa, surveyed 1981
Topographic sheet of Punta Rassa, surveyed 1956

Population over time

2 figures

Punta Rassa fell from 1,750 to 1,620 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20101,750
20201,620-130 (-7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 13 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

8 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 8 fires within 5 miles of Punta Rassa between 1993 and 2013, burning about 126 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Railroad operations and maintenance2
Natural2
Equipment and vehicle use1
Debris and open burning1
Misuse of fire by a minor1
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 August 1998Natural50 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
16 June 2001Natural4.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
3 May 1998Railroad operations and maintenanceunder an acreFlorida Forest Servicenot named
7 April 2013Arson/incendiarism3.0 acresFlorida Forest ServicePELICAN (36)
7 April 1993Debris and open burning4.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
4 April 1997Misuse of fire by a minor4.0 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
11 April 2000Railroad operations and maintenance60 acresFlorida Forest Servicenot named
22 December 1993Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreJ.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife RefugeLOU'S FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Lee County

Storms near this place

10 since 2013

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Punta Rassa in 10 storm reports between 2013 and 2024: 4 tornado, 2 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
April 2017Tornado (EF0)Punta Rassa1 hurt, $110,000Emergency management reported and broadcast media received video of a tornado that crossed the southern point of Pine Island. The tornado then became a waterspout as it moved east and into Fort Myers towards Lakes Regional Park. In Fort Myers, the tornado destroyed one mobile home, damaged trees, fences, and car ports, and lifted a metal dock out of the water at Lakes Regional Park. One person sustained minor injuries.
January 2022Tornado (EF2)Punta Rassa$10,000,000Iona/Fort Myers tornado. A waterspout first identified just northwest of Fort Myers Beach moved ashore as a tornado and pushed through the Iona area near Fort Myers producing EF-2 damage with peak winds estimated around 118 mph before dissipating near the Cape Coral bridge. Over 200 residences suffered damage across three separate mobile home communities (Point Breeze, Tropicana, and Century 21), with 45 destroyed, 90 sustaining major damage and another 92 with minor damage. 3 people suffered minor injuries. Damage estimates totaled around $10 million USD.
October 2024Tornado (EF0)Punta Rassa$50,000The first tornado of the day to impact Fort Myers, this supercell|went on to produce the Matlacha Tornado a few minutes later. As|the cell approached the coast, a brief tornado touched down in|the Jonathan Harbour community, causing damage to one home,|destroying a houseboat, and lifting a second pontoon boat onto a|dock. The tornado then continued into Punta Rassa Cove before|dissipating. Maximum estimated winds were 80 mph.
April 2019LightningPunta Rassa$5,000Broadcast media reported lightning struck a house in Sanibel. The strike caused damage to the home, but did not start a fire. Time was estimated from radar.
May 2015Thunderstorm WindPunta Rassa$3,000The Cape Coral Police Department reported several downed trees and power lines in Cape Coral and just south of the city.
September 2014Thunderstorm WindPunta Rassa$2,000A broadcast media outlet relayed a report of wind damage to a pool cage and fence in Cape Coral. Time was estimated from radar.
June 2014Tornado (EF0)Punta Rassa$1,000A brief EF-0 tornado touched down in Lee County causing minor roof damage to a home. The tornado then moved into the water and continued as a waterspout for a few minutes before dissipating.||Damage to the home was consistent with EF-0 damage - namely a few roof shingles ripped off. Palm fronds still present on the palm trees. Winds estimated between 45-55 mph.
May 2022HailPunta Rassa-Photos obtained via social media indicate 1-inch diameter hail near Cape Coral.
May 2020Funnel CloudPunta Rassa-Broadcast media relayed a video of a funnel cloud in the Iona area of Fort Myers.
June 2013HailPunta Rassa-A broadcast media member's social media page had a report of penny sized hail in southwest Cape Coral. Time estimated from radar.

Every storm recorded in Lee County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Shell Point Village2.3 miles15
Truckland2.5 miles14
Sanibel2.7 miles13
Iona3.4 miles15
Saint James City3.6 miles13
Aspen Indian Creek Park3.8 miles14
Fort Myers Beach4.2 miles14
Harlem Heights4.9 miles15

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Punta RassaAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2049822The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 289383. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.