Handling Hermine; County, city address fallout from Hermine

Minor flooding and power outages aside, Sarasota County missed the worst of Hurricane Hermine.

By Anna Brugmann
| 6:00 a.m. September 8, 2016

Sarasota
News

Headed into a busy week at the Sarasota County Emergency Operations Center, Emergency Services Director Rich Collins described Hermine as the storm that was, then wasn’t — and then was again.

At the time, the system was traveling northwest through the Gulf of Mexico, after having developed into a tropical depression in the Straits of Florida earlier that week. It didn’t pose a threat to the state until Aug. 31, when it was upgraded to a tropical storm and took a sharp northeastern turn toward the state.

Timeline

Wednesday

Tropical Depression Nine becomes Tropical Storm Hermine and takes a sharp northeast turn toward Florida.
City crews continue pumping lift stations to avoid sewer leak
40th Street floods near Cocoanut Avenue, and residents are evacuated. Most find a place to stay overnight, but crews bring four people to the Robert L. Taylor Community Complex, where the Red Cross helped them connect with friends and family.

Thursday

40th Street residents begin returning to their homes between 8:30 a.m. and 9 a.m.
Siesta Key roads begin to flood after heavy rains Wednesday night and Thursday morning.
Gov. Rick Scott declares a state of emergency for 51 Florida counties, including Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Sarasota County announces its wastewater facilities are at capacity and cautions residents to conserve water.
Sarasota County declares a local state of emergency.
Tropical Storm Hermine is upgraded to a hurricane after the storm system generates 75 mph winds.
Sarasota County experiences more heavy rains and winds overnight and into Friday morning.
Sarasota County responds to 50 calls involving downed power lines

Friday

Hurricane Hermine makes landfall in the north Florida Big Bend region.
20,480 of Sarasota County’s 259,000 Florida Power and Light customers lose power during the storm
Sarasota County releases initial damage assessments estimating nearly $700,000 in storm-related damages

Siesta Key residents woke up to flooded streets Thursday morning after heavy rains doused the island overnight. However, that didn’t discourage many residents and beachgoers from heading to the beach to get pictures of the rising surf.

Charlie Davis walked from his home on Avenida Veneccia to Beach Access 2 early Thursday afternoon. He was dressed in sandals, shorts and a long sleeve T-shirt like it was any other day at the beach, even as water lapped over his sandals and onto driveways just behind him.

“It doesn’t happen that often,” Davis said about the storm. “But it’s kind of interesting when it does.”

Later that day, Tropical Storm Hermine was upgraded to a hurricane as its outer bands dumped more rain on the Key.

“Thursday, it rained harder than I think I’d ever seen it rain before,” Davis said. “And then Friday it rained harder.”

Davis was one of the 905 Siesta Key residents who temporarily lost power on Friday because of Hermine. Even though he thought the storm was worse than any recent tropical storms that have hit the key, it probably won’t affect his future storm preparation plans.

“It’s just another storm,” Davis said.

The storm did impact many Labor Day weekend plans for other Siesta Key visitors.

Several business owners in the Siesta Key village reported smaller crowds and quieter storefronts even after the storm cleared on Saturday and Sunday. Still, Siesta Key Village Association President Mark Smith thinks Siesta Key fared well given the potential impacts of Hermine.

“We dodged a bullet,” Smith said.