SeaPort Manatee receives $9.5M from state to aid post-Milton recovery

Gov. Ron DeSantis presented a check for $9.5 million to SeaPort Manatee to jump-start recovery at the port, which supplies the region with food, fuel and other goods, in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

“We want to make sure our supply chain is strong and that we get the port back to where it needs to be as soon as possible,” DeSantis says in a statement.

Due to Hurricane Milton, which made landfall as a Category 3 storm Oct. 9 about 30 miles from the port near Siesta Key, SeaPort Manatee was closed from the evening of Oct. 8 to Oct. 11. The port began distributing fuel again to the region on Oct. 13, officials say.