Myakka River State Park reopens Monday months after Hurricane Ian

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (WWSB) - Myakka River State Park reopened it’s gates on Monday, after being shut down in late September because of Hurricane Ian.

The flooding and damage from the storm, including significant tree damage, forced the temporary closure of the park. On Monday, park visitors including the Shively family, enjoyed the reopening, taking in the beauty of the park and the wildlife.

“It’s so amazing, we came here for the first time last year and we were super excited to hopefully come back,” said Lindsay Shively, a park visitor from Pennsylvania. “We kept trying to check the updates and see when it would open and we’re thrilled to be back here, it’s a wonderful state park.”

Parts of the park are now open but there still some areas of the park that remain closed.

It took a lot of hard work from Friends of Myakka River crews and others to get to this point, restoring the park and even saving many of the plants. There’s still a lot of work to go but visitors couldn’t be happier to once again be able to take in the sights and sounds of Myakka River State Park.

“It’s great to see the state parks be back, offer all those things that we have taken for granted before the storm,” said German Leparc, a park visitor from Tampa.

Myakka River State Park is now open everyday from 8 a.m. until sundown.

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