A memorial bench honoring Medhat "Mike" Sadiku has turned up on a beach in Bermuda, more than 1,100 miles from the Dunedin Causeway. The bench sat on the causeway until Hurricane Helene swept it away in September 2024.

A woman in Bermuda found the bench and reached out to the Sadiku family through social media, sending them photos of where it now sits, Spectrum Bay News 9 first reported. The family had believed the bench was gone for good.

Family members told Bay News 9 that Sadiku's memory is continuing to live on through the bench's discovery.

The discovery comes as the Tampa Bay region marks two years since Helene made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region on Sept. 26, 2024. The Category 4 storm carried 140 mph winds and pushed 5- to 8-foot storm surge into parts of the bay area, according to NOAA data cited by Tampa Bay 28. The storm caused more than $78 billion in damage and killed more than 250 people across six states.

The Dunedin Causeway itself took heavy damage. A section of the causeway beach remained closed for months afterward.

Pinellas County began sand replenishment and road restoration work in May, funded by the Federal Highway Administration through the Florida Department of Transportation. Bridge fender repairs and fixes to the tide relief bridge and movable bridge bag walls have since been completed, according to Pinellas County.

Glenn Steinky, owner of High and Dry Grill, who has operated his business on the causeway since the 1990s, told Bay News 9 in May that the closure had cut into foot traffic and parking along the beach.

"It limits parking and limits the motion of people going up and down the beach," Steinky said at the time.

Whether the Sadiku family plans to retrieve the bench or leave it on the Bermuda shore remains unknown.

Upcoming Dunedin events:

• Tuesday, Sept. 29: Robin Hood & Little John performance, John R. Lawrence Pioneer Park, 420 Main St., 2 p.m.
• Sunday, Oct. 18: Art in the Park returns to John R. Lawrence Pioneer Park