Relief reigns on Longboat Key as island evades Dorian

Folding chair, towel at her side, sun hat on her head, Michelle Morley was enjoying the beach on Longboat Key on Labor Day.

Morley, a Pennsylvania woman who owns a place in Windward Bay with her husband, arrived in the middle of last week to enjoy a break from it all. But on this day, the town’s storm worry and preparations were behind her, literally and figuratively.

“I’m not a worrier, I’m more of a, ‘I’ll deal with it when I know I have to.’’’ she said.  “My husband was supposed to fly in yesterday, but he chickened out. I went to Tampa’s website, and I went to the county, and Longboat Key, and nobody was posting anything, so I thought, ‘These people have been doing this a long time, I live in Pennsylvania, I just flew in on Wednesday, nobody seems to be panicking, so I’m not going to panic.’”

The three-day holiday weekend wrapped up a stretch of angst and uncertainty, not only in Longboat Key, but up and down much of Florida’s coast. Hurricane Dorian’s massive size, threat and difficulty to predict drove residents and town officials to prepare for far worse than what actually took place.

Some took it seriously. Others with a dash of devil-may-care. And though the Sarasota area escaped nearly all direct effects of the catastrophic storm, it’s always wise to take note of the calendar and stock of the situation, officials said.

“We're in the peak of hurricane season, so if you don't have a plan already, you should have a plan on how to respond if we do receive a more direct threat,” Town Manager Tom Harmer said.

Beachgoer Carla O’Brien and daughter Megan spent their Sunday along Longboat’s shore, packing up when afternoon storms – not Dorian – threatened.

“People always need to be prepared; that’s the biggest message,”  O’Brien said. “You should never let your guard down.” 

For Connecticut man Joe Cap, it was another story. He nearly didn’t come down to Florida this weekend, only keeping his plans because a good friend is getting married. “People told me I was nuts for coming down,” Cap said. 

Longboat Key resident Phil Battaglia, at Publix buying a card instead of stocking up on water, said he was nervous a few days ago. Now he’s feeling relief, though he said he’s heard this year is supposed to be a busy hurricane season. 

Kentucky residents Alisha and Rob Tolliver were shopping in Publix — “just water,” they said — and feeling relieved. They had recently arrived, although their plans to come down had been shaky. Alisha hadn’t wanted to come down, but Rob did, so she rolled with it. 

“I’m still worried about what it could do,” said Alisha. 

As of now, there is still plenty of water on the shelves at Publix and gas at the island’s one station. 

Jacob Harrison, an employee of LBK Liquors, said customers were coming in more interested in hurricane preparation than Labor Day plans. 

“People were saying, ‘Happy Hurricane!’ You know, jokingly brushing it off,” Harrison said. 

Once it seemed like the storm would miss Longboat, Labor Day plans reigned. 

Over at Ace Hardware, employee Dave Silvani said the first day people became aware of the possibility of a hurricane, the store ran out of gas cans.

“Thursday, we had four generators, all four were sold Thursday,” Silvani said. “We had them for months, and then all in one day they were gone. A lot of people buying plastic, a lot of people buying batteries and flashlights. One of the resorts came down here looking for 13 flashlights. We ran out of sandbags. We probably had almost 200 sandbags; they were all gone the first day.”

Silvani said he felt news of the hurricane was overblown.

“I think once the media starts to go a little crazy with it, people tend to react a little crazy to it.”