City responds to storm damage

For the most part, residents of the city of Sarasota were fortunate.

As officials responded to significant damage on Siesta Key and in Manatee County following multiple tornadoes and severe storms throughout the region today, city staff reported no major incidents as of this morning.

City Emergency Manager Todd Kerkering detailed the early reports in an email to city staff: minor street flooding, two downed trees along Central Avenue in north Sarasota, a few damaged street signs. Sarasota Police Department officers also reported downed power lines throughout the city.

Along the foot of the John Ringling Causeway this afternoon, a crowd had gathered around a boat lodged along the rocky shoreline, displaced from its docking location in the Sarasota Bay. The SPD has received five or six reports regarding boats that have gone adrift, an issue officials will not be able to respond to until water conditions are safer, according to Captain Kevin Stiff.

According to those on the scene, the owner of the boat had been taken to the hospital and released. People worked to remove objects from the interior of the vehicle, forced to wait until a crane could come and remove the boat from its location on the shore.

Kerkering said the city has offered to assist Sarasota and Manatee counties as the recovery process continues, if necessary.