Longboat Key gears up at stores, gas station, marina

Longboat Key is getting ready for Hurricane Irma.

Preparations took on a higher level of urgency on Sept. 5 after a weekend of getting-more-dire-predictions spurred people into action. Stores reported more customers. Gas stations noted an increase in business. Pretty much everywhere you went, Irma was a center of conversation.

Casa del Mar Beach Resort General Manager Mark Meador said some people canceled rentals or rescheduled their trips to late October. Some people, he said,  packed up and left. But like many others on the island, Meador is in limbo.

“We’re trying to stay positive and wait for the next update,” he said.

On Sept. 4, Gov. Rick Scott called a state of emergency for all 67 Florida counties. Longboat Key government entities began emergency procedures on Sept. 5. Sarasota County officials have asked residents to start preparing now, as effects from Irma could hit the area as early as Sept. 9.

Emotions have ranged on the island from ambivalence to worry ahead of what could be the strongest storm to hit Florida in decades.

Connor Flanagan, manager at The Lazy Lobster, said business hasn’t necessarily changed. He’s heard some customers come in and make jokes or comments about Irma.

“I think that the number one thing … tomorrow, Irma could turn into the Atlantic and dissipate,” he said.

Over at the Longboat Key Tennis Public Tennis Center, Grace Hackett, who works in the pro shop, said they would move furniture inside and adjust wind screens on the court fences over the next few days.

“There’s not a lot we can do to protect the courts,” she said.

At Cannons Marina, workers were securing nearly 30 docked boats and laying sandbags on the property as a precaution. For the most part, boat owners were waiting and watching ahead of the storm.

“People are still figuring out what to do,” said Cannons employee Danny Berthold.

As Longboat residents began securing their property, rumors circulated that gas stations were depleted and hardware stores were running short of supplies.

Longboat’s sole gas station had plenty of gas, still on Sept. 5 and had an ordered scheduled for Sept. 6 said co-manager Cindy Dearth. She said there had been an unusually high amount of traffic through the station that morning that had continued through the afternoon.

Among the customers was Luc Beeckman, who had come from Lido Key to fuel up his 2000 Jaguar S Type in preparation of the storm. He said he witnessed Charley engulf a Maserati with nearly two feet of water and said his biggest concern was to make sure his car was on high enough ground so it would avoid the same fate.

At Ace Hardware on Longboat Key, Dave Silvani said he’d seen a steady influx of customers concerned about their vehicles and their homes. By early afternoon he had sold nearly 20 propane tanks, and was nearly out of flashlights, charcoal, lanterns, radios and coolers.

“It’s been a crazy morning,” Silvani said.

Peter Salefsky, a customer at the hardware store, was among a rare voice hoping forecasts would predict Irma was coming to Longboat.

“The good news is wherever place they predict, it goes somewhere else,” Salefsky said.