It was 1976 when Kathleen Flinn’s parents first saw Anna Maria Island, where Florida’s Tampa Bay meets the Gulf of Mexico.

Her father wasn’t a fan of the Sunshine State. Then:

“He walked out onto the Rod N’ Reel pier, stood at the very end, looked at the bay, looked at the Gulf and said, ‘I want to live here for the rest of my life,'” Flinn said in a statement Friday Telephone interview.

The family bought a house near the pier. Flinn, now in her 50s and a New York Times bestselling author, grew up there and her father became one of the many locals who fished and drank beer at the Rod N’ Reel.

The pier, built in 1947, was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene in September. Hurricane Milton washed away whatever was left two weeks later.

“I actually cried when I saw the picture and then I realized it was gone,” Flinn said.

Her father died of cancer in 1980.

His name was Milton.

A first fish, a family tradition

Bailey Bannigan, 28, has lived on or near the island her entire life. Her first job was at the pier, as a waitress at 15. She caught her first fish there at the age of 7.

“My Uncle Carl was one of the bartenders out there,” Bannigan said Friday.

“My late grandmother…the highlight of her life was getting a ‘Pier Burger’ because they were the best around.”

Bannigan and Flinn described the Rod N’ Reel as a place where it didn’t matter if you lived in your car or had a million dollars.

The Rod N’ Reel has had various owners over the years. At times it fell into disrepair. Much of it was rebuilt after it was damaged by fire in 2014.

But it remained the meeting place for the locals.

“Whether the physical building is still there, you can see how much heart is still standing,” Bannigan said. “And that’s because of the love it brings to people and the memories it gives people and the comfort and happiness and joy they find there.”

“We will recover”

Anna Maria Island in Manatee County is 7 miles long and in some places barely a quarter mile wide. It consists of the cities of Anna Maria, Holmes Beach and Bradenton Beach. The Census Bureau lists about 5,000 residents in all three states combined, but many of those are seasonal.

The district receives more than 4 million tourists every year. The island is its biggest attraction.

Helene’s storm surge inundated nearly every ground floor building on the island with 1 to 3 feet of water. Some had feet of sand left.

Flinn’s mother moved in 2018 and died at the age of 90, shortly before Helene struck. Tropical Storm Milton, later a Category 3 hurricane, marked the day of her funeral.

The house where Flinn and her husband spend half the year in Holmes Beach was largely destroyed by Helene.

Milton was not such a severe blow to the island as a whole, but many structures, such as Rod N’ Reel, suffered further damage. Another landmark, the City Pier in Anna Maria, has also largely disappeared.

F​linn and Bannigan are confident that the island and its residents will get back on their feet.

“I think we’re going to clean up, we’re going to repair, we’re going to replace,” Flinn said. “And you know what? I think it’s a wound, but we’ll recover from it.”

Weather.com Reporter Jan Childs covers breaking news and features on weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.