GoFundMe page for family reports child’s death on Aug. 28
About 6:16 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 24, a 5-year-old girl “was sucked into a storm drain” in the area of 5433 Bahia Vista St. in Sarasota after a Sarasota County water main broke, creating “a big suction [effect],” the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office reported.
After she was located and life-saving measures were begun, the agency said, she was transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
A GiveSendGo.com account created for the child, Zaria Miller, said as late as the evening of Aug. 27 that she was “in critical condition,” and that her “parents and three brothers are faced with uncertainty about the future. They are a truly incredible family and no one should go through what they are suffering right now. Please help Zaria’s family in this dark time.”
The preliminary Sheriff’s Office report on the incident had identified the injury as “Serious.”
Then, on Aug. 28, a GoFundMe page created for the family announced that the child had died, noting that she had been transferred at some point from Sarasota Memorial to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
The Sarasota News Leader was not able to confirm her death before its deadline for publication of this issue.
“It was determined the child was playing in the water in the ditch before she was sucked into the storm drain and disappeared,” the preliminary Sheriff’s Office report pointed out. “The child was under the supervision of her grandmother,” who contacted the agency, the report said.
A News Leader check of the county’s Water Atlas data found that 2.34 inches of rain had been recorded at two water gauges located on Bahia Vista Street over the seven-day period that went through late morning of Aug. 25.
Upon their arrival on the scene Sunday evening, the Sheriff’s Office report continued, a deputy and Sarasota County firefighters began to lift up storm grates in an effort to find the girl. Zaria’s father, Kyle Miller, also was present, attempting to locate his daughter, the report noted.
“After surveying the area,” a deputy wrote in the report, the group was able to determine where the stormwater was draining. The deputy and a firefighter made their way to that spot, which was about 200 yards west of the site where the child last was seen,” the report noted. The deputy and firefighter “located the child floating face up in the water,” the report said.
“The firefighter grabbed the child from the water and began life saving measures,” the report pointed out. Other firefighters came to that location and assisted with the life-saving measures, the report added.
A public advisory that the Sheriff’s Office distributed at 7:25 p.m. on Aug. 24 said that Zaria had been transported to Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
That advisory further noted that Bahia Vista Street would be closed to both eastbound and westbound traffic between Honore Avenue and Arcadia Avenue “until further notice,” as a Sarasota County Public Utilities Department crew was on-site, “addressing the water main break.”
Then, in an update at 3 a.m. on Aug. 25, a Sheriff’s Office advisory said that one westbound lane and one eastbound lane had been opened on Bahia Vista.
The preliminary Sheriff’s Office report on the incident also indicated that agency personnel had contacted the state’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) about the situation regarding the child; DCF staff advised the Sheriff’s Office that a report would be generated.
The 49-year-old grandmother lives at 1002 Bacon Ave. in Sarasota, the report said. The child and her family live at 1209 Cornish Court, the Sheriff’s Office report added.
County staff works to repair water main and damage to road
In response to a News Leader inquiry about the water main break, county Media Relations Officer Sara Nealeigh provided the following statement on Aug. 25: “Sarasota County Public Utilities contractors worked through the night to fill in the portion of Bahia Vista Street damaged by a water main break on Sunday, Aug. 24. Repairs are in process and eastbound lanes of Bahia Vista Street remain closed.” Motorists were being encouraged to find alternate routes, the statement added.
Further, county staff said that residents at 41 addresses had been notified that they were under a boil water notice because of the water main break.
Responding on Aug. 27 to a follow-up request from the News Leader about the status of the work on the water main break, Nealeigh wrote in an email, “The road was paved yesterday. Eastbound [traffic] is using the center turn lane and the inside lane. The concrete [work] is planned for tomorrow, Aug. 28.”
The Rangeline Group explains, “Water mainlines form the backbone of a water distribution system. They are the arteries that transport water from the treatment facility to the properties within a city, town, or region. These large-diameter pipes are essential for supplying water to the network of water service pipe.”
In response to another News Leader inquiry, Nealeigh reported that the water main was installed in 2007.
Research has shown that pipelines installed in areas where rainfall is frequent and the water table is high are more vulnerable to deterioration than infrastructure in drier areas.
A May 2023 article by Xudong Fan, Xijin Zhang, Matthew Speitel and Xiong Yu that was published in Scientific Reports explains, “[T]emperature and precipitation have been identified as two of the most influential climate factors in water pipe failures. … Water pipes in … the hot regions may experience more failures associated with more corrosion.”