Hurricane Dorian: Sarasota County threats shrink

Aug. 30--Sarasota County operated as normal, but Friday morning's order of a local state of emergency unlocked administrative powers and put county employees on notice that a potentially catastrophic hurricane is imminent.

That doesn't mean our area will be heavily impacted.

Emergency Management Chief Ed McCrane said the order releases emergency funding needed to carry out a three-pronged plan to prepare for the worst-case scenario, best-case scenario and most likely outcome. That includes preparing evacuation shelters and transitioning county employees and facilities to emergency roles. He said the Sarasota County Emergency Services website (scgov.net) and social media accounts are storm information sites.

"There is still a lot of time for residents to prepare for Hurricane Dorian," McCrane said. "You need to prepare your home, you need to make sure you have a plan and pick up the necessary supplies, and make the decision whether you are going to stay or evacuate based on what you know the storm is bringing, and what your home can handle."

The county has not made the decision to open evacuation shelters -- the Host Shelter Program -- even as a safe haven for east coast of Florida evacuees, who could be trying to flee the storm.

Officials have begun calling those in the medical-needs program who would need assistance if there is an evacuation. Those who still need to register can do so online at scgov.net/government/emergency-services/emergency-management/medical-needs-program.

A local state of emergency was also declared by the City of Sarasota. City manager Tom Barwin, in consultation with Emergency Manager Todd Kerkering and Mayor Liz Alpert, approved the declaration Friday morning.

The city's emergency operations center remains at a low activation level, and staff will continue to monitor Dorian throughout the Labor Day weekend. Public Works crews cleared vulnerable storm drains, Parks and Recreation crews removed some equipment from all 55 parks that could be damaged or cause damage in high winds, and building inspectors advised builders that construction sites must be secured.

Regularly scheduled city commission meetings will go on as planned.

McCrane said evacuations have not yet been ordered on the east coast of Florida because of Dorian's uncertain route. It isn't out of the realm of possibility that the hurricane turns and misses the state based on some hurricane prediction models.

"At this time, the state has not requested any of that from us," McCrane said of providing shelter. "They are not sure where the storm is going to go. Once they get a better idea, they can identify places that would be safe to evacuate those folks; I know that is taking place, but they haven't been able to make that evaluation.

"When that becomes available we will definitely support it."

The only certainty is that Dorian is gaining strength, and has strong potential to wreak havoc wherever it strikes.

By Friday night, Dorian had strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane and it was slowly but steadily churning toward the northwestern Bahamas, moving west-northwest at 10 mph.

Because of the location of Dorian, McCrane said the threat from storm surge from the Gulf is low, but inland areas could experience dangerous flooding if Dorian goes up the spine of Florida.

"We are more fortunate than those on the east coast right now who have a little less time than we do and a bigger threat," McCrane said. "The rain threat would cause us to want to evacuate the low-lying areas prone to flooding, but not necessarily the barrier islands."

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