Residents hope to return home to Manasota Key

Life will never be the same for people living on Manasota Key. Right now, only emergency services and county officials are allowed on the island.

People haven’t even been able to see the destruction Milton caused to their homes with their own eyes because it’s still not safe for them to return.

Manasota Key, what was a tightly knit barrier island, is now, a victim of Hurricane Milton.

“It is so hard to see,” said islander Cindy Erickson.

The only ones allowed through these barriers are crews cleaning up the devastation.

“Everyone is comfortable at home, but right now there aren’t too many homes to go back to out there,” said Prummel.

A fear many of the islanders share but can’t see for themselves after the Charlotte County Sheriff’s office blocked resident access to Manasota Key for safety hazards.

“When you know what you’re dealing with, you’ve got someplace to start from and you’re not just in limbo,” said Erickson.

Desperate for a look, Cindy Erickson accessed her home by boat.

What she saw broke her.

“It hurts… I’m not kidding it hurts…,” said Erickson. “It was just heartbreaking. Heartbreaking! And to have both of these storms right on top of one another. It is just almost more than one can bear.”

“Houses are destroyed. There’s sand that is actually filling the houses up, so you know some people have criticized our evacuation orders, well, if people stayed in those homes we would have fatalities,” said Prummel.

That’s a reason the sheriff’s department said nobody on Manasota Key was injured during the storm.

“Evacuating is the smart thing. We will let you back in as soon as it is safe to do so. We don’t want to see anybody get hurt,” said Prummel.

While Sheriff Prummell said he does not have a timeline for when these barriers will come down, he sympathizes with the community on Manasota Key and wants to remind everyone that he and his clean-up crews are there for good reason and for everyone’s safety.