Manasota Key digs out from piles of sand left by Helene's storm surge

People on Manasota Key are cleaning up and repairing after Hurricane Helene brought extreme storm surge to the coastal community, dumping several feet of sand in some areas.

Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on clean up efforts on Manasota Key:

“We’ve never seen just piles and piles of sand from the beach,” said Jill Thompson, who lives in Englewood. “So much sadness and sorrow, you can’t put it into words.”

Some were seen digging paths through the sand piled up at their front door.

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“I’ve never seen this, other than growing up in the Midwest in the winter in a blizzard,” said Steven Thompson.

As people sort through their water damaged belongings in their homes, the sand they find can be dropped off at sand recipient sites the county has opened, which will ultimately return the sand to the beaches.

“This sand was covering the roads, inundating people’s personal property,” said John Elias, Director of Public Works for Charlotte County. “So, what we’ve done is we have set up these sand recipient sites, and we are telling everyone if you’ve got sand on your property or the sand that we’re picking up on the road, we’re bringing it here and it will be used as a beach renourishment project.”

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Elias told Fox 4 the sites are set up at Englewood Beach on Manasota Key, Stump Pass and Don Pedro Island.

“To be clear, we are only doing this on sites where we have an engineered beach, meaning we have done a beach restoration project,” said Elias.

Elias said if you are clearing sand from your property, to either dispose of it properly or to bring it to a recipient site because dumping it on a beach yourself is prohibited.