County breaks in new EOC in anticipation of Erika

The war room is bigger, the walls will stand up against 250 mph winds, and it’s more effectively located with more capacity for responders, but the county’s new emergency operations center may not shed that new-car smell just yet.

Sarasota County Emergency Operations Chief Ed McCrane said that key players are active at the center in anticipation of Tropical Storm Erika, but that they are waiting for Saturday's 11 a.m. National Weather Service storm advisory before putting in motion anything as serious as an evacuation notice. At the moment, the county is at level 2 — a partial activation.

The center, which is located on Porter Way near I-75, has not yet been used for an actual event of this nature as yet, McCrane said. Emergency management officials are planning for the worst case scenario, in which Erika might track westward and and strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico, but the most probable scenario includes little more than rainy, windy weather from a weak disturbance. In the best case, Erika will dissipate over land before reaching Florida.

According to the NWS, as of 1:30 p.m. Friday, Erika was just south of the Dominican Republic moving WNW at 18 mph, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. Possible tracks included either coast of Florida, but no watches or warnings of any kind had been issued for any part of the state. 

Regardless of the storm's final track, residents should be prepared.

“People should be monitoring the storm advisories, have their disaster supplies ready and know what to do for themselves and their families," McCrane said.