SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. — Tuesday marked six months since Hurricane Ian devastated parts of Florida, leaving piles of debris and rising waters in its wake. 

The Category 4 storm left historic flooding in many parts of the state, including Central Florida.

“We had about a foot and a half of water right here in the restaurant. It took us a while,” said Black Hammock Adventures General Manager Jayson Rivera while walking through the Black Hammock Restaurant on the property. “We were closed down for about two months.”

Rivera and his team on Lake Jesup are back with doors are open for tourism and work.

“We’ve got our staff that came back. So we’ve got them employed,” he said. “This is just a great space for families, for anyone traveling to the area. That way, they can kind of see what happened during Hurricane Ian.”

Hard to tell now, but the extent of water damage from flooding was tremendous — some of the wildlife had to be relocated and are now one of the biggest signs of recovery.

“All the birds are back in. But one of the biggest things that we want to mention is we want to be able to thank the community,” said Rivera. “We had a GoFundMe page and the community really helped out with donations, and this is pretty much where we spent the money.”

“It started with a bar. And then that kind of helped us get the airboats going. And then once we had those, too, kind of generating some income for us,” he said. “Once we got the restaurant kind of, you know, staffed up where it is now, helped us reopen the restaurant as well.”

One building on the property is still unmanned. The damage required a complete renovation of the area.

“It was definitely a lot harder because I think a lot of it was more. We had to wait for the water level to go down,” Rivera said. “As the water level goes down, we kind of start a new project and this is pretty much where we’re at.”

Six months after Ian and having survived Nicole, business is back for those visiting and working in this Seminole County community.

“Here at the Black Hammock, we’re very resilient. We’re glad to be here. We’re glad to have the support of the community.”

Roughly two months away from the next hurricane season, there’s still work to be done around here, but the heavy lifting is complete in most things at Black Hammock. Rivera hopes this season will be a bit more forgiving on these Lake Jesup shores.