Treasure Island leaders aim to help struggling businesses after devastating storm damage
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TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. (WFLA) — Treasure Island is one of the areas hit hardest by Hurricanes Helene and Milton yet slowly, but surely there are signs of recovery.

Thursday, Caddy’s on the Beach reopened in a tent in the parking lot next to their main building. Managers say it was not easy.

“This was a lot of work, I mean even from the hurricane and the damage that we sustained over there and that was a lot of work pulling stuff out and I mean it was so much damage,” said Stephen Santasieri with Caddy’s.

The main building is still suffering a lot of damage, but the City of Treasure Island gave the restaurant a special permit to reopen.

“To pull off a bar, restaurant and have this beach, I think was a really good accomplishment,” said Santasieri.

Tilly O’Conner and her friends came to the area on Spring Break from Villanova. They didn’t know what to expect.

“I did not. Let me say, I had heard from people around that we heard this is a cool place and we saw that the place was kind of torn down and we saw the tent and we were like, we’ll just try it out,” said O’Conner.

Treasure Island officials say they have been fighting to let people know that many businesses are ready for guests.

“There is a misconception out there where people go on social media, who will call the city and say, we’ve heard Treasure Island is destroyed or we heard Treasure Island is not open and that is simply not true,” said Jason Beisel with the city.

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