Manatee County not suffering a direct hit from Eta, so far

Manatee County released a report at 5 p.m. Wednesday saying it had been fortunate to dodge a direct hit from Tropical Storm Eta.

Eta, previously in the day a Category 1 hurricane before heading toward the west coast of Florida, was headed for landfall north of Tampa after 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

Manatee County earlier in the day had made shelters available at Manatee High School and Mills Elementary, but no one had sought shelter at Mills, so it was closed for emergency purposes at 5 p.m. Manatee High School had 30 people who sought shelter there.

Manatee County emergency officials say they have received only a few reports of localized flooding and standing water on Anna Maria Island but no major damages. Tropical Storm winds are expected to continue through Thursday morning.

Predictions were for 3 to 5 feet of storm surge along the coast.