MATLACHA, Fla. — On a typical afternoon, the Blue Dog parking lot in Matlacha would be packed with people. Instead, it sits empty as the restaurant works to reopen after Hurricane Helene.
"Little disappointing it closed down in another flood," said Sven, a customer who tried to eat at Blue Dog on Wednesday.
He came from Minnesota and made Blue Dog his first stop.
Fox 4 Senior Reporter Kaitlin Knapp got a look inside to see the damage:
Owner John Lynch showed Knapp a video of him opening the side door after Helene.
"I just have probably thousands of gallons of water rushing out," Lynch said.
He says there was about two feet of water inside.
"It's still high enough to destroy all the equipment," Lynch said. "Most of the motors and condensers are on the bottom of the cooling equipment, so 18 inches, two feet is enough to cover those with saltwater."
He says the saltwater will degrade all the connections over time on the equipment.
Now, the broken equipment is outside.
"Right now, our biggest setback is just waiting on equipment," Lynch said.
This same scenario — he's been through it before.
"Rebuilding and remodeling — it’s something that we’re good at here, but we don’t want to be good at," Lynch joked about.
Knapp was at Blue Dog in December 2022 when it was close to reopening after replacing equipment destroyed by Ian.
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Despite its second major flood in two years, Lynch says they're not going anywhere. The restaurant is celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.
"This is our community. It’s not just a business, we are also part of the fabric of this community," Lynch said. "As long as people keep coming in and supporting us, we’ll be here."
And customers like Sven says he will be back in three weeks.
"He’s [Lynch] a trooper to keep this place going like he does and I support him 100% and we’ll be back John," he said.
