MIAMI – The Miami Seaquarium reopened Friday, more than a month after Hurricane Irma devastated South Florida.
"(It's the) first day opening after the storm, and it's been a long few weeks, you know. And just like everybody else in South Florida, there's been a lot of cleanup," Miami Seaquarium curator Dwayne Biggs said.
The Miami Seaquarium closed while crews and staff rolled up their sleeves to clean up after the storm.
But employees of the Seaquarium said they had a hurricane plane in place as the park is all too familiar with how damaging a storm can be.
"I was actually here for Wilma in 2005 and we had a huge amount of storm surge on the backside of our park, so we learned that that could be a potential for this storm," Marnie Wood said.
Some animals were moved to higher ground ahead of the hurricane.
Photos showed the storm surge after Irma inside the park, which was flooded with about 2 feet of water.
"We do have docks, natural wood docks, in the area, so the docks did sustain some damage," Wood said.
Flipper Stadium and Discovery Bay are still closed for repairs, but everything from shows to educational sessions and animal encounters are fully functioning.
"The Miami Seaquarium has been here a very long time, and this is not the first storm that they've had to deal with," Biggs said.
