Tropical Storm Debby leaves entire neighborhoods in Sarasota flooded.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: August 7, 2024
Host: Water, water, water. That’s the story of Sarasota and Manatee County in the wake of Tropical Storm Debby and the record amounts of rain it brought. Sarasota received some of the most rainfall during Debby, and as of this morning, hundreds of people remain stranded. Dozens of others who were taking shelter at the Sarasota Technical College were transferred to Woodmere Park today. There was little warning in Sarasota. Unlike in Manatee County, there was no sandbagging, and – because the county did not declare an emergency until well into the storm – shelters did not open until Monday. Johannes Werner has the latest.
Johannes Werner: As of mid-day Wednesday, hundreds of homes in Sarasota continue to be flooded. The biggest problems are along Philippi Creek, a waterway that originates in a suburban sprawl area and flows through older urban areas into Sarasota Bay south of the city. Two areas are bearing the brunt of the water: New subdivision around Celery Fields, a natural preserve that was turned into a lake.
Sarasota County is updating its damage assessment, in part by using a map that also allows for real-time input by residents.
Allison Werner lives on a tributary of Philippi Creek in the Gulf Gate area. She tried to sit out the flood, but today she decided to evacuate. Reached by phone this morning, she said the first floor of her dream home is still underwater.
Allison Werner: I have a three story home, and the water took over my entire first floor. It reached just above my doorknobs, and it didn’t recede until this morning. I still can’t access my driveway, and my entire property, which is about a half an acre, was covered in muddy creek water. My pool, you couldn’t even see my pool. I couldn’t see my lounge chairs. The water was so deep and so dark, and it was everywhere. Yeah, the creek rose more than I’ve ever seen it in my entire life. And I don’t know if this is the right time to say this, but I think something down the line must have gone wrong for this much water to be there. There was rain. But this, I’ve lived in South Gate since 2013, and on the creek the whole time. And this is not normal. What happened in the storm, the amount of water was unreal.
JW: Allison’s neighbors turned into first-line responders.
AW: I have chickens and I have two dogs, and I didn’t think this kind of rain, in my wildest dreams, this kind of rain could not happen. And I almost didn’t bring the chickens in, because their coop is high, but I did bring them in. So the chickens and the dogs and I stayed on the second and third floors during the storm, and then until last night, I stayed up front. But otherwise I stayed, and my neighbors, my neighbors left via canoes in the middle of the night. My neighbors had to be rescued by boat, most of them. I have left now, but yeah, I only left yesterday evening. I stayed at a friend’s, and I’m not going to go back until it’s fixed now. An old friend of mine called and he has chickens, so he came and picked them up. But it was seriously a miracle, like one neighbor loaned me a crate, and a different neighbor waded through the water to give me the crate, and then waded through the water with the chickens in the crate, and then my friend came and picked them up. So they were in my powder bath on my third floor for a day and a night, and my dogs are with me. But everybody’s really, really stressed out.
JW: She says she had no inkling what was about to happen.
AW: We always think that these storms are not going to be anything. I don’t know that the county could have done anything differently, but I didn’t even move anything from the first floor. I think there was no warning about this.
JW: But she does have a theory about what’s causing this unprecedented flood.
AW: I’m also really worried that this is a problem that is going to happen again. I’m not a scientist, but I believe that part of the problem is all the development by the Celery Fields, and there’s no drainage, and everything drains to the creek. My street is one of the lowest, and I’m really scared that they’re not going to fix it, and that this is just going to happen again. I’m going to be calling my county commissioner today and politely demand an explanation, because we’ve had hurricanes, this was not like what’s happened in the past, something I think had to have gone wrong somewhere, and if we can identify it and fix it, then people can live here and we can say, but if it’s a we don’t know what went wrong, then, then this is not going to be a place anybody can live.
JW: Liz declined to have her last name put on the air. But she told us she lives a few blocks downriver, and her home backs on Philippi Creek. Liz is among the luckier ones. Her family had to rope in a dock that was about to flow away. And the river brought a few surprises.
Liz: There’s a lot of debris going down the water, which is worrisome with all the litter. We’ve seen docks go by. We’ve seen balls, we saw an aquarium. We saw an iguana floating down the water, in addition to trees, branches, you know, lots of, lots of things to float by. Yesterday, we had an alligator trapped. We have a fence, and the water went over the fence line, and an alligator got trapped in our yard.
JW: Did you get it out?
L: We were able to get it out. It was a baby. So we waited till the water got a little lower, and we opened up the gate, and then we were able to see it. It’s gone. It’s out of our yard, safely, living in nature. I feel as though there has to be something with the maybe infrastructure, or something causing something like this to happen when it never has before. It got really high in the flood a couple weeks ago. So it makes me a little nervous about the future, that wondering if it could happen.
JW: Sarasota Emergency Management Chief Sandra Tapfumaneyi says damage assessment is now underway.
Tapfumaneyi
Sandra Tapfumaneyi: We have our residents self-reporting damages. It’s really important that we understand what damages are out in the community, so that we can come and assess the damage. We’re working with FEMA, they are here on site with us so that we can attempt to try to push forward for some assistance for our community.
The damage report form – as well as a map of ongoing road closures and other trouble spots – are available on the Sarasota County website, scgov.net.
Yesterday afternoon, the chief of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, and a Major General of the Florida National Guard toured the area to support recovery efforts. And late this morning, Governor Ron DeSantis showed up. He talked about bridge loans for small businesses, and about flood insurance. He said that his government will take care of everything.
The waters of Philippi Creek are slowly receding now. Sarasota County Utility Director Spencer Anderson:
Spencer Anderson: The water stages in the Philippine Creek area are slowly receding. And slowly means, you know, inches per hours, and that’ll that’ll speed up over time.
But they keep rising along the bigger Myakka River. And that’s bad news for North Port and Port Charlotte, which are at the mouth of that river.
But that’s still, we’re seeing right now while the the basin recovers, but they keep rising along the bigger Myakka River, and that’s bad news for North Port and Port Charlotte, which are at the mouth of that river.
According to the National Weather Service, the Myakka River is expected to rise between Thursday and Saturday. Spencer Anderson:
W: We are seeing increases in stages along the Myakka, while the larger Myakka basin drains south towards Charlotte Harbor. That area is expected to crest from Friday to Saturday. And more information will be coming out about that.
Stay safe, if you’re near the Myakka River. The latest forecast has up to two feet of flooding.
Reporting for WSLR News from Sarasota, this is Johannes Werner.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.