‘It’s all bad.’ Anna Maria Island faces a long recovery after Helene’s destruction

After Hurricane Helene battered Manatee County’s island cities, county officials said the area may take months to recover.

The hard-hit area includes Bradenton Beach, the city of Anna Maria and Holmes Beach, officials said during a Friday afternoon press conference. They described historically devastating damage to island businesses and homes.

“It’s all bad,” Manatee County Commissioner Mike Rahn said. “There are still flooded streets. Sand is blocking streets. Sand is in buildings. Sand is in homes. So it’s going to be a long recovery to be able to get back out there for citizens.”

Rahn said there was a record storm arising from five to seven feet along the coast. I have also said the storm surges at Port Manatee broke a record that dates back to 1980.

Rahn said county officials lifted evacuation orders for Manatee County but set a sunrise-to-sunset curfew for its island cities, where residents remained without power and water Friday afternoon.

Rahn said the storm washed out parts of Gulf Drive. He added that the road is impassable and will likely remain closed for some time.

Extensive AMI cleanup required after Helene

“Gulf (Drive) is done,” Rahn said. “Right now, it’s beyond repair. When you have that type of storm arises, the sand literally blew through everything, 100 yards of it, from the beaches to the bay, and it took out the roads with it.”

Major Gene Brown said the storm surge rose to four to five feet in some houses near the Manatee River. In other parts of the city, the storm made a much smaller impact, he said.

Brown urged residents to heed evacuation warnings ahead of future storms. He said first responders cannot reach people in trouble during a storm.

“We want to protect everyone and make sure things are safe, but we also cannot put our people in jeopardy,” Brown said. “We had to sit on calls for quite a while last night, and that’s upsetting all of us.”

County officials urged residents to report any damage they see by dialing 311.