- April 24, 2024
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Andy and Ivelisse Rivera
Albert Blanchette
The Anchor's Peter Talanca
The Anchor sustained $6,000 in damage, but owner Peter Talanca feels fortunate because A1A is still open in front of his restaurant. Portions of the building are 100 years old, he said. Photos by Brian McMillan
Lois and Richard Bell
What’s the future of State Road A1A in Flagler Beach? How has Hurricane Matthew changed the area, if at all? Here’s what some residents and a restaurant owner had to say:
New Hampshire native Albert Blanchette has been visiting Flagler Beach since 1983, after he retired. To sum up his career, he said he started with a shovel and retired as vice president of a pulp and paper company.
After his wife died three years ago, he decided to move to Fourth Street in Flagler Beach full time, and this is the first year he hasn’t lived anywhere else.
He says Flagler Beach won’t change as a result of Matthew. “It’s a beautiful little town,” he said. “And the beauty is that there's not much room for it to keep growing.”
Richard and Lois Bell evacuated during Hurricane Matthew. Then, they went on a cruise, which they had been planning to do all along. They said the storm was bad, but it won’t defeat Flagler Beach.
“It’ll come back,” they said. “The tourists will come back.”
Andy and Ivelisse Rivera live in Palm Coast. “We evacuated,” Andy said. “No sense in not heeding the warning. I've been through enough hurricanes to know the potential was high.”
He said they had no damage to their house, and they had power back on the night they returned.
But in Flagler Beach, he said, “They’re going to have to do something and build a better wall that can withstand the currents.”
Ivelisse said she was worried about the negative impact the A1A closure will have on businesses.
Peter Talanca took over The Anchor, a restaurant in Flagler Beach, in June, at 500 S Oceanshore Blvd., just a block from the pier. He sat at the bar in his white chef’s jacket on Monday morning, surrounded by mostly empty chairs in his, but he wasn’t complaining.
“I'm very fortunate that A1A is still a functional road in front of my establishment,” he said, noting that he had about $6,000 worth of damage from the wind and rain but has been able to open quickly. Others, he said, weren’t so lucky, as several blocks of the road are closed, and that’s likely posing a great hardship on restaurants and shops that rely on the tourists.
Hurricane Matthew has cut down 70% on foot traffic in front of The Anchor, Talanca estimated. Matthew also dampened the biker traffic during Biketoberfest, which will hurt.
Moreover, many local residents were out of work for a few days, and so they don’t feel like they have the extra money to go out to eat.
Still, the ocean views and lack of high rises will always make Flagler Beach attractive, and even if there are some places that don’t survive Matthew, others will fill in within a year or two, he said.
“Do I think Flagler Beach will come back?” he said. “Yes. But this will always be on our minds.”
What do you think the longterm impact of Hurricane Matthew will be on Flagler Beach, if any? Email [email protected].
