Parts of Sarasota County are still recovering from a deluge that flooded roads and stranded drivers in their vehicles Tuesday night.
The heavy rainfall was due to an area of tropical moisture in Gulf of Mexico that has a small chance for tropical development heading into the weekend.
"Our water level indicators showed there was up to 8 inches of rain in certain portions of the city and the county," said Spencer Anderson, Sarasota County public works director. "Statistically, that is about a thousand-year storm in the duration of about three hours that it happened."
Anderson said crews were dispatched overnight Tuesday to clear debris after the rain stopped around 9 p.m.
He said much of the flooding was due to storm grates that became clogged and "overwhelmed the drainage system."
"We haven't had a storm like that in quite a while," Anderson said. "It even exceeded the rainfall in this area that we had during Hurricane Ian.
"Especially areas like St. Armand's, just the topography out there, the island's shaped like a bowl. So it does take a while for water to go down. The pump stations on St. Armand's, we had recently invested over a million dollars to rehabilitate those and they were all functioning, the amount of rainfall completely overwhelmed the system."
That prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to issue a state of emergency for Sarasota County, and four others in the state.
I have declared a state of emergency for Broward, Collier, Lee, Miami-Dade, and Sarasota counties due to major flooding from Invest 90L. DEM Director Kevin Guthrie and the @FLSERT team will be on-site to coordinate the state response.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) June 12, 2024
Find the EO here: https://t.co/wSziAq4OWz
Tim Dorsey, Sarasota County assistant fire chief, said crews responded to motorists who were stuck in their vehicles when they attempted to drive through standing water.
"The good thing we know about flood water is that it rains and water comes up, and when it stops raining, the water recedes," Dorsey said.
Anderson said Tuesday night's storms were a learning experience about what Sarasota could expect as we head into hurricane season.
"It does show us where the weak spots are, but it was a unique event," Anderson said. "And for it to occur as early in storm season as it did, it does help us know where we need to tweak some things in the future."
Sarasota had time to continue its cleanup efforts Wednesday.
But Megan Borowski, meteorologist with the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. said a stray storm could pop up by the evening, with off-and-on downpours increasing again on Thursday,
"It likely won't rain all day (Thursday), but several rounds of tropical downpours are possible, and that won't help things," Borowski said.
She said those storms could produce an additional 1-3 inches of rain.
The National Weather Service has issued a Flood Watch through at least Thursday night for Sarasota, Manatee, Hardee and DeSoto counties.
