BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. — One week later, we get a bigger glimpse at the vast damage to the city of Bradenton Beach caused by Hurricane Helene.
Work crews have continued to move into the area not only to push sand out of the roadways and homes but also to remove fallen palm trees. They have also started moving structures blown away as others remain perched perniciously on their foundations and barely standing.
In their preliminary assessment, state officials said about 95% of the beachside city was destroyed by Hurricane Helene.
The entire Anna Maria Island is just under 9 miles long from north to south and about 2 miles wide going from east to west. Local officials said the nearly 6-foot storm surge washed over the entire island and ruined Bradenton Beach as well as Holmes Beach and the city of Anna Maria.
"To imagine that this incredible paradise is gone is very difficult. It's really, really hard," Elayne Armaniaco, a Bradenton Beach neighbor, said.
The number residents of who have started to slowly return to start cleaning up the mess from the hurricane continued to grow on Thursday.
"The hardest part is that our lives are going on around us. Our children still need help with what they need help with and other people still need help and so we're trying to live our lives in this chaos," Armaniaco said.
They join dozens of construction and restoration crews who are trooping in and out to start putting the beach town back in order.
Buildings, lifeguard stands and entire homes were shifted with the sand including the police department and the mayor's home.
"It is a catastrophe for many people. Much like a big snowfall up north, it's going to be a matter of moving that sand to the curbs so that we can collect that sand separated and return most of it on the beach," Charlie Hunsicker, the director of Manatee County Natural Resources, said.
Progress is relative when you consider the magnitude of restoration work that would be necessary to bring the island back to its former glory. Since the state incident management team came on the ground Gulf Drive is now back to two lanes on both sides.
County officials say they are already looking ahead to best ways to restore and shore up both the city and beach quickly.
"Mother Nature has its way of teaching us lessons. We don't need to fight it, we need to learn and we need to build more resiliently and make sure our evacuation routes are protected and safe," Hunsicker said.
"We will persevere, you know, we are AMI strong and Bradenton Beach strong and and if we lose it forever, we'll have the memories," Armaniaco said.
Officials said many of the residents need a lot of help with various kinds of cleaning supplies as well as pet supplies.
They have plenty of water and hotmeals for now, thanks to volunteer restaurants, but they are in need of non perishable food items, according to Roberts.
In the meantime, as with many of the impacted barrier islands, authorities are asking tourists to stay away until otherwise advised. Access is restricted and only open to residents, business owners and those involved in recovery efforts.
Starting at 8 a.m. Friday, only residents' and business owners' vehicles with red tags will be allowed into Bradenton Beach. Those who don't have a red tag would need to show proof of residency and a form of identification in order to be issued a pass. Contractors, tow trucks and other folks involved in the ongoing restoration efforts must show a work order to be allowed access through Cortez Bridge. In addition a 7 p.m.-7 a.m. curfew remains in effect and officials say there would be no exceptions to these restrictions.