Siesta Key officially reopened on Friday, allowing residents and business owners to return to the Sarasota County barrier island where Hurricane Milton made landfall.The storm hit Florida's Gulf coast as a major Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night,

Near the place Hurricane Milton made landfall Wednesday night, like so many of the Gulf Coast barrier islands from Sarasota to Clearwater, it was hard to tell where the damage from one storm ended and the ruin of another began.

Today, as we began taking stock of the storm’s damage and start the recovery process, longtime Sarasota Magazine contributing photographer Barbara Banks, a downtown resident, ventured out to capture some of Milton’s aftermath. Here’s what she saw.

After battering the west coast of Florida with winds, pounding rain and storm surge, Hurricane Milton roared onshore near Siesta Key at 8:30 p.m. as a powerful Category 3 hurricane with estimated wind speeds of 120 mph.

Midnight Pass, a naturally formed inlet separating Siesta and Casey Keys, was filled in in the 1980s by Siesta Key beachfront residents to protect their homes from destruction due to erosion. Critics say closing the pass has degraded the water quality of Sarasota Bay and have fought, unsuccessfully, to reopen it.

Many Siesta Key residents hadn't finished cleaning up from the damage Hurricane Helene caused last month when Hurricane Milton brought more surge.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, Wednesday night. Hurricane Milton had winds of 120 mph, making it a Category 3 storm.

Hurricane Milton is churning toward a potentially catastrophic collision with the west coast of Florida. Here is updated coverage of the storm.

Hurricane Milton made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near Siesta Key on Oct. 9. The eye of the storm reached land around 8:30 p.m. with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph. Aerial images show the damage in Siesta Key,