MANASOTA KEY — The Hermitage Artist Retreat staff drove through floodwaters to reach their campus to find it buried in deep sand and water from Hurricane Helene.
Artistic Director and CEO Andy Sandberg said they could do nothing but watch a video feed of storm surge inundate the historical campus before the power went out.
“The biggest concern was that we couldn’t have anticipated, to this level, was the storm surge that happened overnight, Thursday night, with the rising tides and the water pushing,” Sandberg said. “Friday morning, we had people out here. Our staff boldly drove through the water and power lines to find the campus covered in four to eight feet of sand, depending where they were.”
As the storm-driven Gulf of Mexico angrily churned and pushed forth onto the campus, Sandberg said he could see an electrical fire in one of the buildings.
“Simultaneously, that same water put out the fire, but it was a bit shocking to see because we started to see how quickly the water was rushing, and then the power went out,” Sandberg said. “We knew it was going to only get worse.”