County seeking presidential declaration of disaster
As residents in a number of neighborhoods in north Sarasota County continued to contend with floodwaters surrounding their homes, Sarasota County staff midweek began warning South County residents about flooding expected from the Myakka River.
In an advisory issued just before 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 7, Sara Nealeigh, media relations officer for the Emergency Services Department, wrote, “Based on information and guidance from the National Weather Service (NWS), parts of the Myakka River will experience elevated flood levels between Thursday, Aug. 8, and Saturday, Aug. 10. Individuals should take precautions now to protect their families and property.”
She added that the NWS had issued a Flood Warning for specific areas “until the Myakka River recedes. Areas immediately surrounding the river, especially low-lying areas,” she added, may experience up to 2 feet of flooding between Thursday and Saturday.
“NWS indicates flooding will be experienced from north to south along the Myakka River, Nealeigh wrote: north of Clark Road on Thursday, Aug. 8; near Interstate 75 during the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 9; and along U.S. 41 during the early morning of Saturday, Aug. 10.
A temporary evacuation center has been made available to any resident who is relocating from at-risk areas along the Myakka River, Nealeigh continued. That is Woodmere Park, located at 3951 Woodmere Park Blvd. in Venice.
Earlier this week, after hundreds of residents were having to be evacuated from their homes by law enforcement officers and specialized teams, county staff worked with representatives of the Sarasota County Schools to allow persons to shelter at the Suncoast Technical College (SCT), located at the intersection of Beneva Road and Proctor Road in Sarasota. However, with classes getting ready to start for the new school year, county staff announced early in the afternoon of Aug. 7 that the individuals who were at STC were having to move to Woodmere Park.
Those who relocate to the park are being asked “to come prepared with what they need.” A disaster supply checklist and emergency preparedness guide may be found on this webpage, county staff added.
In the meantime, self-service sandbag distribution points were opened at two locations:
- George Mullen Activity Center, standing at 1602 Kramer Way in North Port, while supplies last. It opened at 2 p.m. on Aug. 7.
- Sarasota County Fleet-South, located at 4531 Annex Road in Venice. However, that was open only on Thursday, Nealeigh reported.
While bags and sand were being provided, she noted, individuals were being asked to bring their own shovels.
In response to a Sarasota News Leader question this week about why sandbags were not made available to residents ahead of Tropical Storm Debby’s downpours, county staff wrote the following in an email sent just before 8 p.m. on Aug. 7: “Sarasota County made the decision to not implement sandbags based on weather data from the National Weather Service (NWS). At this time, we are focused on keeping our community safe and performing rescues throughout the community. We encourage community members to stay up to date on the storm by following #SRQCounty on social media @SRQCountyGov, visiting https://loom.ly/oMXDlS4 or subscribing to our Emergency Updates newsletter at https://bit.ly/3Cajfjz.”
County staff reported on the evening of Aug. 6 that Sarasota County received the largest amount of rainfall of all Florida counties, as a result of Tropical Storm Debby’s passage west of the coastline on its way to making landfall in the Big Bend region, near Steinhatchee, at 7 p.m. on Aug. 5 as a Category 1 hurricane.
On the evening of Aug. 5, a county advisory said, “The highest three-day rain total observed in Sarasota County was 16.23 inches.” Subsequent emergency updates from the county noted that Tropical Storm Debby produced “historically significant rainfall,” with the majority of roadways having experienced flooding.
On the morning of Thursday, Aug. 8, Sandra Tapfumaneyi, the county’s new emergency management chief reported that staff is hopeful that Sarasota County will be considered for “a federal major disaster declaration” from President Joe Biden. Representatives of the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) were due in the county later that day, she added, to assist with the data collection necessary for trying to win that declaration.
In February, Tapfumaneyi was hired to replace Ed McCrane, who left county employment in 2023.
Staff also is encouraging residents and business owners who have suffered damage to fill out an online, voluntary survey. “Click here to open the Tropical Storm Debby Damage Assessment Form,” emergency updates says.
Anyone who needs assistance filling out the form may call the county Contact Center at 311, staff points out.
Further, the morning of Aug. 8, the county’s Emergency Update reported that Sarasota Property Appraiser Bill Furst had provided a webpage “with useful information for any homeowner who suffered storm damage from Debby.”
That update noted that homeowners should visit the website and complete a storm damage survey.
Further, the update reported, owners of residential parcels who are displaced for more 30 days should complete a DR-465 form “for a refund of taxes paid once they can reoccupy their home OR Dec. 31, 2024, whichever comes first. The deadline to file this form is March 1, 2025,” the update pointed out.
Additionally, late in the afternoon of Aug. 7, county staff reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis had activated the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program, making $10 million available for businesses that had suffered from the effects of Hurricane Debby.
“Florida small business owners in need of assistance, including sole proprietors, are encouraged to visit www.FloridaJobs.org/EBL to apply for the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program,” the county advisory pointed out. “The program provides short-term, zero-interest loans to small businesses that experienced economic injury or physical damage due to Hurricane Debby.”
That advisory added, “Interested applicants can apply now through Sept. 30, 2024, or until all available funds are expended.”
As yet another mean of assistance to the public, county staff also has reported, “If you need help cleaning up damage from Hurricane Debby, call 1-844-965-1386 to be connected with volunteers from local relief organizations, community groups and faith communities. These groups may be able to assist with muck out, trees, tarps and debris. All services are free, but service is not guaranteed due to the overwhelming need. This hotline will remain open through Friday, Aug. 23.”
The advisory added, “Volunteers work free of charge and provide the tools necessary to complete the work. For more information, visit crisiscleanup.org.”
That advisory did emphasize, “This hotline cannot assist with social services such as food, clothing, shelter, insurance,” or questions about registration for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The rain and the aftermath
A Sarasota News Leader review of rainfall totals in the county over the seven-day period ending about 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 7 found the highest total collected by a Sarasota County rain gauge was 18.94 inches near the Sarasota Memorial Hospital campus that stands on U.S. 41 near downtown Sarasota.
In the eastern portion of the county, the county Water Atlas showed, a gauge that appears to be located at the county’s BOB Building on Central Sarasota Boulevard recorded 15.51 inches during the seven-day period.
The rain gauge between Desoto Lakes and Kensington Park recorded 16.64 inches, while the gauge near Red Bug Slough, which is in the area of Bee Ridge and Beneva roads in Sarasota, recorded 14.43 inches.
The highest total recorded between Red Bug Slough and Oscar Scherer State Park was 15.7 inches, near Sarasota Square Mall.
Finally, in the southernmost portion of the county, the highest total for the period the News Leader reviewed was observed near Toscana Isles and North Venice: 12.67 inches.
About noon on Aug. 6, Sarasota County Government staff released what it called the Storm Debby Reporting Map, which can be used to find areas that still are experiencing problems, including road closures. “This website will be updated in real-time from [members of] the community and Sarasota County professionals in the field,” county staff wrote. This is the link to the map.
County staff also has released videos showing the Celery Fields Regional Stormwater Management Project in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Debby and conditions near the intersection of Palmer Boulevard and Lorraine Road, in the eastern part of the county, as of 9 a.m. on Aug. 8.
The Colonial Oaks community was inundated by Tropical Storm Debby, too, as shown in a video created by Tony Brier, with footage taken by a drone over that community.
In an Aug. 7 video, county Public Works Director Spencer Anderson addressed the flooding in the Phillippi Creek Basin as he stood near a weir on the Main C Canal of the creek. That weir was draining water from the Celery Fields and other upstream areas, he said, handling as much water as it could.
Another canal, Main A, Anderson noted, has no weir. It drains stormwater from the area of the Palmer Boulevard/Lorriane Road intersection, he said. It, too, was removing the water as fast as it could, he pointed out; it had been doing so since Tropical Storm Debby began pouring rain on the county.
Anderson stressed the “significant amount of water that hit our area.”
Fox Creek and Cow Pen Slough also were draining floodwater, he noted, “but relatively slowly.”
Search and rescue
On its Facebook page on Aug. 6, the Sarasota Police Department reported that it expected to continue water rescues “throughout the day and into the evening as we search for more individuals stranded in the floodwater.”
The post included photos taken near the intersection of South Conrad Avenue and Bahia Vista Street, near Philippi Creek. “Approximately 500 residents have been safely transported from flooded homes to higher ground,” the post pointed out.
The agency extended its gratitude to members of the North Port Police and Fire departments, the Charlotte County Fire Department, the Englewood Fire Department, and the Southwest Florida Urban Search and Rescue team (Florida USAR Task Force 6) for their assistance, “as well as the ongoing support of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and Sarasota County Emergency Services.”
On Aug. 7, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office provided this information on its Facebook page: “Help came from near and far to assist in the aftermath of #HurricaneDebby.” The post named the Florida National Guard, the Florida Urban Search and Rescue Task Force teams, Florida Fish and Wildlife, the Englewood Area Fire Control District, Hillsborough County Fire Rescue, and Sarasota County Emergency Services, among the responders. “Around 200 came from all over Florida,” the post added.
Just before 4 p.m. on Aug. 7, a Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) advisory reported the following:
- “In Manatee and Sarasota counties, 30 local [Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission] FWC officers are assisting residents with high-water evacuations along area rivers. Approximately 100 people so far have been assisted by FWC officers in the area.
- “A team of 8 additional officers from Collier County has deployed with an airboat, shallow draft vessels and a swamp buggy to assist officers in Manatee and Sarasota counties to address additional needs due to rising rivers in the area,” the advisory added.
During the morning of Aug. 7, Sarasota County Communications Department staff reported the following number of storm-related calls that the county had received on Aug. 4 and Aug. 5:
- Aug. 4 – 92.
- Aug. 5 – 211.
Road damage and repairs
As Tropical Storm Debby dropped more and more rain on the county, more and more roadways became flooded. The Sarasota Police Department and the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office used their social media accounts to keep the public up-to-date on road closures before the county launched its interactive map this week.
One of the Police Department’s earliest reports — posted on Facebook on Aug. 4 — warned, “FLOODED ROADS: Benjamin Franklin Drive is flooding near the Sandcastle Resort at Lido Beach, and the area of Ken Thompson Park is also starting to experience flooding. We ask residents to stay put, and non-residents should avoid the area.”
At 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 5, the Police Department posted the following advisory:
“The City of Sarasota, Government is now under a Flash Flood Warning. Several roadways are underwater. We encourage the public to stay home and wait out the storm. Remember, never drive through flooded roadways or go around barricades. They are placed there for a reason. #TurnAroundDontDrown
“Several roadways are impassable, including:
• “The South end of Lido Key. Officers encourage the public to avoid the barrier islands until the storm passes.
• “The area of Sarasota Bayfront, including side streets and a portion of Main Street.
• “U.S. 41 from Gulfstream Ave to 12th Street.
• “City Island, near Ken Thompson Park and Mote Marine.
• “The north entrance to Siesta Key.
• “Bird Key, specifically the Twin Bridges.
• “[North] Orange Ave, near the intersection of 18th St.
• “17th St from N Euclid Ave to N Lime Ave.”
The agency subsequently added these to the list:
• “U.S. 301 at 6th St.
• “U.S. 41 [northbound] at 10th St.
• “South Tuttle at Bahia Vista.
• “John Ringling Causeway, from St. Armands Circle east towards Bird Key.”
On the morning of Aug. 6, the agency posted this on Facebook:
“Our Officers have been on duty throughout the night and remain on standby this morning to ensure public safety. Here are the latest road closures:
• “Bahia Vista Street is closed from Kruppa Avenue (just west of Beneva Road) to S Conrad Avenue due to floodwaters.
• “South Beneva Road is closed from Bahia Vista Street to Legacy Trail.
“All other major thoroughfares are open for travel to work. However, please proceed with caution as there are still pockets of standing water and some debris.”
Finally, on the morning of Aug. 7, the Police Department announced, “All four lanes of Bahia Vista Street near S. Conrad Avenue are now open for travel.”
On Aug. 7, the Sheriff’s Office posted photos on its Facebook page to remind the public about a frequent problem area during the aftermaths of storms: the intersection of Bahia Vista Street and McIntosh Road.
Among other damaged areas, the county Emergency Update distributed the night of Aug. 4 noted, “Manasota Key Road at the north end of Blind Pass Beach is underwater and closed and North Casey Key Road is unsafe for vehicle travel. There is also some road damage in the Casey Key area. The road leading into Caspersen Beach has also been closed due to erosion from the storm.”
A 3:20 p.m. media update on Aug. 5 added, “Phillippi Creek has covered the road south of Southgate Community Center and is flooding the general area.
“A storm drain and sidewalk washed out on Proctor Road near Suncoast Technical College.”
The Aug. 6 evening update provided this information: “Manasota Key Beach Road has been reopened.” However, that update continued, Harbor Drive to Caspersen Beach remained closed because of damage. “Repairs are ongoing along North Casey Key Road. While vehicular access is available, drivers should anticipate significant delays of up to 30 minutes to pass the repair area. Please be patient and kind to the workers as they diligently complete these repairs,” the update said
During his Aug. 7 video report, Anderson, the county’s Public Works Department director, pointed out that only half of the Manasota Beach Road drawbridge over the Intracoastal Waterway was open to vehicles. Drivers would have to wait if a boat needed to pass under the bridge, he said, albeit with just that single lane that could be opened.