Hurricane Helene opens Midnight Pass after 4 decades

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (SNN TV) — After decades, Midnight Pass has finally been reopened due to the impact of Hurricane Helene, and residents of the Suncoast are rejoicing on social media.

Midnight Pass the subject of controversy for decades. In 1984, the Army Corp of Engineers formed Intracoastal Waterways and closed the Pass, sealing off Little Sarasota Bay from the Gulf of Mexico.

Video sent in from professional jet-skier Eric Lagopoulos showed him riding through the opening made by the storm and the storm surge.

He was the first person through Midnight Pass in over 4 decades.

Residents have battled to get it back open for all of those years, and now it happened naturally.

Advocates of reopening Midnight Pass said it would help restore the bay to its natural state and improve the quality of wildlife.

Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a $1 million allocation in this year’s state budget that would have helped pay for design and permitting efforts needed to reopen the pass.

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