HOLMES BEACH, Fla. — There were overcast skies at the beach on Sunday, but Manatee County residents were just happy to spend a day on the beach for the first time in nearly a month.
Manatee Public Beach reopened for the first time since Hurricane Helene’s storm surge devastated Anna Maria Island along with other barrier islands in the Tampa Bay area. It is the first and only public beach on Anna Maria Island to reopen as recovery continues.
“We’re not going to let a hurricane bring us down. We’re just going to enjoy our life here on the beach,” Valeria Trego said.
Trego, a Bradenton resident, was enjoying the beach with her family for the first time since July.
“I heard that this one was opening so I come out here with my family and we’re enjoying the beach right now,” she said surrounded by her children. “It’s a nice day. It’s not too hot. It’s beautiful.”
She is grateful for how the community came together to cleanup the beach so that everyone could return to making memories.
Staff at the Anna Maria Island Beach Café were happy to welcome back locals to the beach.
“Happy to be here, needed a sense of normalcy,” bartender Phil Francisco said. “It’s been a lot of work the last month trying to get back here and we’re happy to be here again, that’s for sure.”
Helene’s storm surge left mounds of sand as high as four feet in some areas up and down Anna Maria Island. Café staff dug all the sand out by hand.
“The day we finally finished, umbrellas, chairs all ready to go, that’s when Milton decided to show up,” he added.
“I’m really surprised at how fast everything reopened. I think everybody was good at working together for it,” Mia Miller said.
Miller, a student at IMG Academy, evacuated to where she is from in California and is just happy to be back
“I think it’s great because everybody is here already so I can tell everyone was eager to come back,” Miller said.
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