Hurricanes Ian, Idalia, Debby, Helene, and Milton brought extreme wave and surge conditions to Florida’s Gulf coast over just three years. The combined impacts of these storms lead to extensive ebb channelization of beaches and dunes, prolific overwash, displacement of the shoreline, loss of dune and mangrove vegetation, and damage to human infrastructure. Yet, these impacts were not spatially consistent along the coast, with remote and ground observations revealing substantial variations in landscape response based on existing natural and engineered site conditions. Along the beaches of Southwest Florida, from Sanibel Island south to the City of Naples, differences in pre-storm barrier-island width, dune height, number of relict dunes, and proximity of human development significantly affected the extent of shoreline displacement and style of erosion. For example, strandplain beaches with multiple dune ridges both resisted erosion and trapped washover in interdune swales, creating new subaerial sand reservoirs. Alternatively, narrow beaches backed by open water lagoons were subjected to overwash and breaching, in some cases resulting in the complete destruction of local vegetation. Where buildings and dune crossovers were present, ebb return flows channelized through these features, resulting in the dissection of dunes and beaches by seaward-directed outwash; many such outwashes created by Hurricane Ian were subsequently reactivated in later storms. Paired with observations of post-storm interventions to restore beaches, as well as measurements of natural revegetation, our analyses demonstrate how landscapes only a few kilometers apart can be either highly resistant or extremely susceptible to effects of storm erosion. When combined with modeling and co-produced insights from managers and local jurisdictions, our results have the potential to provide substantive value for seaside communities as they secure the shape of the coastal landscape in the coming years.