Along the gulf on Manasota Key, it’s been weeks since Hurricane Milton mangled the island.
If you didn’t know any better, you'd think it was the day after the storm.
“Horrible. Like a war zone,” Bob Brady described. “It's like there was a war here.”
Brady lives on the southern part of the island and lost everything on the first floor of his home to Milton’s storm surge.
He and his wife had only finished rebuilding from Hurricane Ian a few months ago.
“Oh, it's devastating. It was like, oh gosh. It's tough,” Brady said.
But of all the damage on Manasota Key, nothing proves the power of the storm quite like the new channel it created.
Milton’s surge literally cut a new path through the land.
“It cut through and came back in,” Brady said. “Like they say, a 'perfect storm,' and that's what it was."
Some people are now referring to it as "Milton Pass." It’s on the southern part of Manasota Key at the Stump Pass Beach State Park.
“As soon as we have the storm moving inland, of course, it takes all of this water in,” FGCU professor Christopher Daly explained. “But as the storm moves away, the water flows back out. And that's where it does a lot of damage cutting these channels.”
Daly studies the coastline in southwest Florida, which has changed over time and in this same way before.
In the 1920s, a hurricane sliced through Captiva Island, creating North Captiva as we know it today.
In 2004, Hurricane Charley carved a path through North Captiva itself, though that eventually filled back in.
What will happen to Milton Pass? Daly can’t say for sure.
“That's a good question,” he said. “It's all a very delicate balance between the currents coming in and out and the sediment that's available, whether or not these channels can heal."
What is known is that severe storm surge can harm the land, wildlife and water.
It's too soon to determine if Milton Pass will have any major impacts, but it does prove how susceptible barrier islands are – especially in narrow spots, and especially now.
“It's important to realize that we're heading into a different world, a new world, where some of these storms become more frequent,” Daly explained. “So, we need to be able to adapt, be more flexible to these events."
Brady plans to rebuild and remain in the place he’s come to love. But he hopes the tide starts to turn in his favor after an awful stretch of hurricanes.
“I'm Irish. I believe in luck,” he said, smiling.