BRADENTON BEACH, Fla., (WFLA) – Those holding their breath to see the damage to their homes and businesses on Bradenton Beach are now being allowed back to the beach.

Homeowners, property owners, business owners, anyone related to insurance companies to look at properties and city employees are now allowed back on the beach.

A line of cars were waiting to get into the area to see what their homes and businesses now look like.

“The difference between Milton and Helene just from quick aesthetics really isn’t a whole lot different. Helene was maybe more shocking because the height of the sand, whereas now it’s more the wind damage when I look up and I see the roof is gone,” Jeff Holbrook said.

People took hit after hit between Hurricane Helene and Milton.

“It’s a gut punch, no doubt about it, you’re already tired, you feel beat, you’re but you’ve got to stay cheerful. We’re going to move forward, things will come back,” Holbrook said.

Jeff Holbrook has several rental properties on the island through Cheerful Coast, not to mention his condo that was damaged.

“The three that we have on the island, one of them is ready to go as soon as we get power, this one, Pelican Cove, is close, this condo complex is going to take some time,” Holbrook said.

8 On Your Side went upstairs in one of the rentals to see the damage and parts of the ceiling fell out from all the wind and rain damage.

Down the street, the owners of Smoqe House are trying to clean up their restaurant.

“It’s been catastrophic financially when you lose business like that, it’s really hard to recoup, we don’t know when we will be able to reopen. Our whole family works here, our three kids, and us, as well as our team,” Heidi Kubes said.

Heidi and Andy Kubes own the family-oriented BBQ fusion restaurant. They said they are thankful to still have their building on the corner of the street still standing.  

“This one we actually faired a little better, we didn’t get water inside like we did last time. It’s a lot of debris and it’s going to take time opening up and getting people out here,” Andy Kubes said.

It has been a long couple of weeks with a lot of hard work with no power, sewer, or water on the island right now.

“Our house got a lot of damage in this last storm, so between our house and then there’s always a lot of anxiety waiting until you can actually get out here and get eyes on your property,” Heidi said.

There is a town curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. unless you are a resident with a red tag.