Getty Image / Joe Raedle
Hurricane Helene battered the Gulf Coast of Florida, making landfall near Perry, Florida in the Panhandle as a category 4 major hurricane that has left 4.2 million homes across the southeast without power. What seems to be the biggest emerging story from Hurricane Helene is the record-setting storm surge that impacted hundreds of miles of coastline on the Gulf Coast of Florida and in my hometown, Hurricane Helene reopened Midnight Pass which has been closed for over 40 years.
For my entire life I’ve been hearing ‘Let It Flow’ anytime Midnight Pass is brought up in Sarasota. The pass was closed over 40 years ago, before I was born, but my parents’ generation grew up on Siesta Key with Midnight Pass being an easy access to the Gulf of Mexico and a vital pass for the ecology of Sarasota Bay with heavy water flow in and out of the pass bringing fresh water from the Gulf to the Bay in an area that otherwise is miles from the nearest pass.
Midnight Pass has been closed since December 5th, 1983. After Hurricane Helene barreled through the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, here is what Midnight Pass looks like today:
Midnight Pass used to be a waterway that separated the barrier islands of Siesta Key and Casey Key and for basically all of time until 1985 it was a vital waterway between the two barrier islands.
I posted a locally viral tweet about the reopening of Midnight Pass which is now featured in the Herald Tribune. They reached out to Cole Washko who is a Sarasota County public information officer and Washko confirmed to the Herald Tribune that Midnight Pass was reopened by Hurricane Helene, saying “Staff confirmed that Hurricane Helene opened Midnight Pass.”
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The controversy surrounding Midnight Pass being closed spans decades. This story could pretty much go on for as much time as you have to read today and then some. But the gist is, Midnight Pass had been shifting up and down the beach for years due to erosion. Then two local residents took it upon themselves to fill it in on December 5th, 1983 by footing the bill to have Midnight Pass filled in with sand, thus cutting off one of Sarasota Bay’s outlets to the Gulf of Mexico.
As recently as March, the local Observer was writing about how the “Decadeslong debate over reopening Midnight Pass continues.”
There have been multiple grassroots campaigns throughout the years to try and have Midnight Pass reopened and each time there has been a tremendous amount of support from locals to open the pass but nothing has ever come to fruition until now when Hurricane Helene took it upon herself to reopen Midnight Pass after 41 years.
With Midnight Pass now open, it’s unclear if the County will act quickly to close it back up again or allow nature to take its course. There are several properties in the area that could face immediate risk if beach erosion accelerates so it wouldn’t be entirely surprising if Sarasota County fills it in quickly but Hurricane Helene appears to have done the will of the (majority of) the locals.