On a typical afternoon, the Blue Dog parking lot in Matlacha would be packed with people. Instead, it sits empty as the restaurant works to reopen after Hurricane Helene.
“Little disappointing it closed down in another flood,” said Sven, a customer who tried to eat at Blue Dog on Wednesday.
He came from Minnesota and made Blue Dog his first stop.
Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp got a look inside to see the damage:
‘We’ll be here’: Blue Dog on Matlacha works to reopen shortly after Helene
Owner John Lynch showed Knapp a video of him opening the side door after Helene.
“I just have probably thousands of gallons of water rushing out,” Lynch said.
He says there was about two feet of water inside.
“It’s still high enough to destroy all the equipment,” Lynch said. “Most of the motors and condensers are on the bottom of the cooling equipment, so 18 inches, two feet is enough to cover those with saltwater.”
He says the saltwater will degrade all the connections over time on the equipment.