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After all the sound and the fury from Hurricane Idalia passed by Sarasota's St. Armands Circle, business owners started cleaning the sidewalks and flooding residue from inside and out on Thursday morning to reopen for customers.
While many businesses had some damage from flooding that left evidence of standing water as high as two feet on some retail buildings from Idalia's passage Wednesday, the majority appeared open or in the process of opening a day later, including the iconic Columbia Restaurant, which had as much as 11 inches of water intrusion.
Other businesses with smaller staffs also worked hard to be open for the last long weekend of the summer season.
Both Jim and Joyce Condrack stood outside Little Bo-Tique, a children's clothing store on St. Armands located near the worst of the flooding, as they cleared the pathway for potential customers.
Jim Condrack, 88, held a blower, banishing the hurricane grime, while his wife, 85, swept out the store's doorway.
"We did not get one drop of water inside the store," Joyce Condrack said with relief.
Jim Condrack had taped the doors and stacked sand bags at the business, where standing water got as high as he’s ever seen it. But his business did not flood.
The Condracks have owned Little Bo-Tique and been businessowners on the well-known shopping destination on the Gulf of Mexico barrier island for at least 35 years, including the last 15 in the same spot across the street from the Columbia Restaurant.
While many of their neighbors had water intrusion, the Condracks' single entrance had about "20 sand bags" stacked in front and a special, heavy-duty tape Jim Condrack used to hold out the water.
"It cost $14 for just six feet of it," Jim said.
A price he was glad to pay given the alternative.
“We’re lucky; I mean, just look at some of the people that got wiped out further north,” he said. “We’re just trying to get back in shape and ready for the holiday weekend."
He said the water got higher this time on St. Armands Circle than he has ever seen it, noting that it was probably two feet outside his door. But the tape held. He said next time he will go even higher.
A couple shops down from Little Bo-Tique, Ele Miccio had arrived at the restaurant she's been operating on St. Armands for the past 15 years — Venezia.
She said she was unable to drive onto the circle Wednesday because the bridge had been shut down, but had walked through the flooded streets to see if there was anything they could do.
There was not, as water still flooded large portions of St. Armands, including her business.
She returned at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday with her husband and daughter to start the clean-up.
Manatee County’s beaches and barrier islands are back open after being flooded by Hurricane Idalia’s storm surge. And now even during an extensive cleanup, residents on Anna Maria Island are thankful.
The difference a day (or a few hours) can make, just ask Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer, who took video of the flooded street during high tide outside his station.
“I’m estimating we were in the four-foot range, but they think it may have been above,” said Tokajer, whose department's H1 Hummer was the only police vehicle that could make it through the streets to help survey and respond where needed during the heavy flooding Wednesday.
Aside from a fire at one home, large amounts of water caused the bulk of damage seen on the island, even seasoned islanders say it’s the most flooding they’ve seen.
“Most water I’ve seen in 28 years,” Darrin Wash, who lives on Anna Maria Island, said.
Water went into Wash’s garage, but overall he says things weren’t as bad as they could’ve been.
“We lucked out once again, I stay every time unless it’s a direct hit category 5, we stay and take care of our dogs and post videos and drive the island and just kind of support everybody,” Wash said.
That sentiment was largely shared across the island, where workers at restaurants were busy cleaning up and getting ready to reopen. Others were helping sweep up the palm fronds and debris left by Idalia.
“We’ve been blessed as a community,” Chief Tokajer added.
Manatee County will have trucks on the island through the weekend, sweeping large debris and cleaning up to prevent further drainage issues.
Damage from Hurricane Idalia in Sarasota and Manatee counties reached roughly $5 million, with assessments in Sarasota County ongoing.
Sarasota County interim emergency manager Scott Montgomery said Friday the county’s damage assessment number was at about $2.65 million, with $480,000 attributed to damage in the town of Longboat Key and Venice and reports still forthcoming from the cities of Sarasota and North Port.
Manatee County spokesman Bill Logan said damage there hit the $2.3 million mark as of Thursday but the figure is expected to rise.
Water has continued to recede in Rubonia, which was hit especially hard by flooding, Logan said, with representatives of the American Red Cross present again Friday.
“Anybody who needed help got the help,” he added.
Sarasota County extended its seven-day declaration of emergency that went into effect Aug. 28.
Manatee County also extended its emergency declaration because of recovery efforts, Logan confirmed.
Here are other things you need to know about the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.
Manasota Key Road still impassible
Manasota Key Road just north of Blind Pass Beach Road is still impassible, forcing people to detour to the mainland.
“The public works crew is doing what they can to get that road shored up,” Montgomery said.
There is no date as to when the road will reopen or the cost to fix the two-lane road.
A 200-foot section of the road was damaged in 2017 by Hurricane Irma.
The section damaged by Idalia is roughly 1,600 feet long and located between 6780 Manasota Key Road and Blind Pass Park.
Repairs on Casey Key Road are underway, though it is passable.
“We’re still asking people to take caution if they’re driving through that area,” Montgomery said.
Caspersen Beach boardwalk; South Jetty closed
The entire Caspersen Beach boardwalk was destroyed by Hurricane Idalia, Montgomery said, leaving the beach park – popular with people searching for fossilized shark’s teeth – closed.
Caspersen is one of many boardwalks and docks that must be replaced after Idalia, including Lemon Bay.
In total, 16 Sarasota County parks remain closed after the storm.
Humphris Park at the South Jetty also remains closed because of storm surge damage.
Representatives of the Army Corps were scheduled to survey the location Saturday.
Venice spokeswoman Lorrane Anderson said via email that the damage is extensive and it will still be a couple of weeks until the parking lot and access to the Jetty Jack’s snack bar will reopen.
Venice public works crews are working on repairing Tarpon Center Drive, with a goal of reopening one lane Friday afternoon.
Sidewalk restoration should be completed in the next couple of weeks – depending on the availability of concrete.
Last edited by wondermint2; 09-01-2023 at 03:20 PM..
Manatee County’s beaches and barrier islands are back open after being flooded by Hurricane Idalia’s storm surge. And now even during an extensive cleanup, residents on Anna Maria Island are thankful.
The difference a day (or a few hours) can make, just ask Holmes Beach Police Chief William Tokajer, who took video of the flooded street during high tide outside his station.
“I’m estimating we were in the four-foot range, but they think it may have been above,” said Tokajer, whose department's H1 Hummer was the only police vehicle that could make it through the streets to help survey and respond where needed during the heavy flooding Wednesday.
Aside from a fire at one home, large amounts of water caused the bulk of damage seen on the island, even seasoned islanders say it’s the most flooding they’ve seen.
“Most water I’ve seen in 28 years,” Darrin Wash, who lives on Anna Maria Island, said.
Water went into Wash’s garage, but overall he says things weren’t as bad as they could’ve been.
“We lucked out once again, I stay every time unless it’s a direct hit category 5, we stay and take care of our dogs and post videos and drive the island and just kind of support everybody,” Wash said.
That sentiment was largely shared across the island, where workers at restaurants were busy cleaning up and getting ready to reopen. Others were helping sweep up the palm fronds and debris left by Idalia.
“We’ve been blessed as a community,” Chief Tokajer added.
Manatee County will have trucks on the island through the weekend, sweeping large debris and cleaning up to prevent further drainage issues.
Paver by paver, Siobhan Clark and a few helpers built a makeshift barrier to keep the high tide away from her bayside home on Anna Maria Island.
She is one of many residents with properties on the northern end of the island who started to rebuild on Thursday, the first full day island residents could return after bridges opened up at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday. She owns two properties on the northern end of the city of Anna Maria.
"Everybody from the Rod and Reel Pier down to Bean Point suffered massive beach erosion," Clark said. "I know we're not a huge group of people affected, but these are our properties, and we take pride in them, and it's hard not to see a level of support in putting them back and making them safe."
All of Anna Maria Island experienced significant impacts from the storm, but floodwaters have been slow to recede on the north side of the island, which made it difficult for property owners to reach their properties last night. In her neighborhood, Clark points toward beach erosion caused by Hurricane Ian that made it easier for high surf from Hurricane Idalia to reach her home.
"I feel like the damage to the island here from Ian was really underrepresented," Clark said. "When all the water was pulled out of the bay, all of our sand was pulled with it ... We've all been struggling on this end of Anna Maria with the errosion and the encroaching water."
"I'm trying to take what's left of the pavers from my patio and create a level of barrier," she said. "We're at high tide now, so the water was coming right up to the house."
County employees are also assessing debris on the barrier islands and determining whether to set up a special pickup for construction and demolition debris – such as flood-damaged furniture and drywall – Montgomery said, then added that the county is putting together a message on how residents should prepare construction and demolition debris for pickup.
Sarasota County Parks and Recreation officials have assessed 149 of the 186 parks in Sarasota County, with 16 listed as closed on the latest park status report, including Blackburn Point Park, Blind Pass Beach Park, Caspersen Beach Park, and the Jelks Preserve
Montgomery said area beaches are still being assessed for storm damage.
Three recently renourished beaches – Turtle, Lido and South Manasota – could be eligible for FEMA funding to fix damages.
County employees are also assessing debris on the barrier islands and determining whether to set up a special pickup for construction and demolition debris – such as flood-damaged furniture and drywall – Montgomery said, then added that the county is putting together a message on how residents should prepare construction and demolition debris for pickup.
Sarasota County Parks and Recreation officials have assessed 149 of the 186 parks in Sarasota County, with 16 listed as closed on the latest park status report, including Blackburn Point Park, Blind Pass Beach Park, Caspersen Beach Park, and the Jelks Preserve
Montgomery said area beaches are still being assessed for storm damage.
Three recently renourished beaches – Turtle, Lido and South Manasota – could be eligible for FEMA funding to fix damages.
This list of local park closings was published on August 31.
Although much of the region is reopening post-Hurricane Idalia, some parks and fishing piers remain closed due to damage from the storm. Sarasota County government officials said in a Facebook update yesterday that they’ve found multiple boats that have crashed ashore, buckled sidewalks, fallen light poles, damaged piers and vegetative debris littering the ground however confirm that all reservations in parks including athletic fields will occur as scheduled starting today.
Here’s the updated list of which parks remain closed.
Sarasota City and County
Caspersen Beach Park CLOSED
Jelks Preserve CLOSED
Deer Prairie Creek Preserve (South entrance) CLOSED
Glebe Park CLOSED
Palmer Point Beach Park CLOSED
Scherer Thaxton Preserve CLOSED
Sleeping Turtles Preserve South CLOSED
Turtle Beach Campground CLOSED
Bayfront Park CLOSED Note: O’Leary’s Tiki Bar & Grill in Bayfront Park will open tonight.
Eloise Werlin Park CLOSED
Tony Saprito Fishing Pier CLOSED
Ken Thompson Park playground CLOSED
Humphries Park CLOSED
Venice Jetty CLOSED
Myakkahatchee Green Way Disc Golf Course CLOSED
Butler Park Fields CLOSED
Myakkahatchee Environmental Park OPEN; however officials urge visitors to stay on designated paths and avoid flooded regions.
Manatee County
Coquina Beach CLOSED; OPEN TOMORROW
For the most up-to-date information, call 311 or (941) 748-4501 for Manatee County, or visit scgov.netwww.Sarasotafl.gov/alerts or mymanatee.org.
Wayne Douglas and his wife tried to get his mother-in-law to evacuate as Hurricane Idalia approached the west coast of Florida. Like most in Rubonia, she refused to leave her home.
But she woke up to three feet of water inside her home.
“Now we're in rescue mode. I came out here, and I couldn't even drive a Dodge Ram truck and I couldn't even go down the street. The water was too high," Douglas said.
He had to borrow his nephew's 26-foot box truck and wade in the flood waters to walk his mother-in-law out.
"It never flooded this bad. Water has breached the carport before, but it's never breached the inside like this before," he said.
Rubonia — a historically black and low-income community established in 1920 — sits alongside Terra Ceia and is prone to flooding.
"This is an older community that was built to the standards of that day. Some of the homes have been infilled, and if you notice, you have homes that are lower and homes that are higher, unfortunately," said Debbie DeLeon, Manatee County Neighborhood Services Division Manager. "Those homes that are under sea level? They don't fare as well. And that's basically what you saw here.”
Manatee County asked the state to send in the Red Cross to provide emergency shelter for those families, but residents did not want to leave.
“She is up to the house right now. So she says she's ready to come home," Douglas said. "She's 87 years old. It's hard to get her to understand that maybe it's not safe to be in there yet.”
Instead Red Cross has been providing residents with food and cleaning supplies.
Way too early to make any predictions if this system devoloping off the coast of Africa will impact Florida. But as of now it "might" impact Florida by mid-September.
Atlantic reaches a fever pitch of activity, but when might the next US threat be?
Despite a handful of tropical systems roaming about the Atlantic during the Labor Day weekend, none pose an immediate threat to the United States. However, AccuWeather meteorologists are keeping an eye on Idalia and a new system emerging from the coast of Africa that may ramp up to a hurricane and eye the Caribbean Islands and the United States before mid-September.
New Cabo Verde system may be the next threat to US
There may be a long-term threat brewing for the Caribbean and perhaps the U.S. later during the second week of September.
A tropical disturbance, known as a tropical wave, was beginning to move off the coast of Africa late in the week. It is expected to take many days to cross the Atlantic.
Meteorologists refer to systems that form in this region of the basin as Cabo Verde systems, named for a group of islands just off the coast of Africa. The Cabo Verde season, as it is known by forecasters, forms the backbone of the Atlantic hurricane season.
“Into early week, there may be some inhibiting factors for development with this latest tropical wave,” DaSilva said.
Moving forward, perhaps as early as later next week or during the second week of September, conditions may become favorable for development as the tropical wave moves along.
“While the eastern Atlantic can be very tricky predicting storm formation this far out, all of the ingredients are available for development this time of the year,” Rayno said. “Low wind shear, sufficient moisture and water temperatures are at their peak.”
Wind shear, when strong, can be a tropical system’s worst enemy and can inhibit or limit tropical development.
Rayno, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg and many other experts at AccuWeather believe this system could go on to become a tropical storm and hurricane. If so, Lee is the next name on the list of tropical storms, after Katia, for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.
“If that storm [the Lee candidate] ends up traveling north of the Lesser Antilles, then a U.S. strike late next week is unlikely,” Rayno said. “However, if the storm makes it into the Caribbean Sea or moves westward along the northern islands of the Caribbean, then the risk of direct impact or perhaps a landfall in the U.S. around Sept. 14-15 would be much greater.”
Last edited by wondermint2; 09-02-2023 at 08:14 AM..
Way too early to make any predictions if this system devoloping off the coast of Africa will impact Florida. But as of now it "might" impact Florida by mid-September.
Atlantic reaches a fever pitch of activity, but when might the next US threat be?
Despite a handful of tropical systems roaming about the Atlantic during the Labor Day weekend, none pose an immediate threat to the United States. However, AccuWeather meteorologists are keeping an eye on Idalia and a new system emerging from the coast of Africa that may ramp up to a hurricane and eye the Caribbean Islands and the United States before mid-September.
New Cabo Verde system may be the next threat to US
There may be a long-term threat brewing for the Caribbean and perhaps the U.S. later during the second week of September.
A tropical disturbance, known as a tropical wave, was beginning to move off the coast of Africa late in the week. It is expected to take many days to cross the Atlantic.
Meteorologists refer to systems that form in this region of the basin as Cabo Verde systems, named for a group of islands just off the coast of Africa. The Cabo Verde season, as it is known by forecasters, forms the backbone of the Atlantic hurricane season.
“Into early week, there may be some inhibiting factors for development with this latest tropical wave,” DaSilva said.
Moving forward, perhaps as early as later next week or during the second week of September, conditions may become favorable for development as the tropical wave moves along.
“While the eastern Atlantic can be very tricky predicting storm formation this far out, all of the ingredients are available for development this time of the year,” Rayno said. “Low wind shear, sufficient moisture and water temperatures are at their peak.”
Wind shear, when strong, can be a tropical system’s worst enemy and can inhibit or limit tropical development.
Rayno, AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg and many other experts at AccuWeather believe this system could go on to become a tropical storm and hurricane. If so, Lee is the next name on the list of tropical storms, after Katia, for the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.
“If that storm [the Lee candidate] ends up traveling north of the Lesser Antilles, then a U.S. strike late next week is unlikely,” Rayno said. “However, if the storm makes it into the Caribbean Sea or moves westward along the northern islands of the Caribbean, then the risk of direct impact or perhaps a landfall in the U.S. around Sept. 14-15 would be much greater.”
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1h
"Far African spot to watch now up to red 70%. Models aggressive on development. Nearing Caribbean next weekend."
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