ENGLEWOOD, Fla. — Sand is piled up to the first floor of most homes on Manasota Key, a sliver of land off Florida’s west coast, where devastation is widespread.
NBC News, escorted by Charlotte County officials, got an exclusive look Sunday at the south end of the key.
The community, about 30 miles south of where Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday, sits across a bay from Englewood, between Fort Myers and Sarasota.
The key is closed to vehicles, but residents are allowed in on foot, some walking for miles with wagons to salvage what they can. Many are finding their homes gutted and full of sand.
This “old Florida” community consists of many homes right on the water that have been passed down from generation to generation. That’s the case for Kris Hleuka, whose grandfather built her home on Sand Dollar Lane. Now, sand fills the first story.
“This is my life history,” she said.
As storm after storm hits the state, Hleuka has watched her home be torn apart. For many in the community, homeowners insurance isn’t an option.
“After Ian, we completely rebuilt the house. I’m not doing this again,” she said. “We can’t afford insurance down on the beach like this.”
Residents on the key are in “shock and mourning” that their little piece of paradise is gone, said Brenda Kreuger, a friend of Hleuka's who lives in Englewood.
Jay and Pam Hager have owned a timeshare at the Sea Oats Beach Club for decades. The property, once an oasis on a quiet strip of the Gulf, is now buried under 4 feet of sand.
“It seems like we’re in a movie,” Jay Hager said. “It just doesn’t seem real. I’ve been coming here for 40 years and never seen anything close to this.”
Officials are working to remove the piles of sand that have buried the roads so they can reopen Manasota Key.
“Houses were decimated. They’re gone into the Gulf, and we didn’t have that with Helene,” said Ben Bailey, community development director for Charlotte County.
"I have never seen anything like this. Most people living here that are alive have never seen anything like this, either," Bailey said.
John Elias, public works director for Charlotte County, said the storm “certainly, literally, has changed the geography” of the key.
More than 750,000 Floridians are still without power five days after Milton made landfall, according to PowerOutage.us.
At least 24 people have died as a result of the storm, according to an NBC News count of confirmed deaths.
President Joe Biden toured the damage in St. Petersburg on Sunday and promised $600 million for restoration after hurricanes Milton and Helene, with nearly $100 million of that going toward improvements to Florida’s power system.
