Flooded Roads, Bridges Closed In Sarasota County: Hurricane Idalia

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — Though Sarasota County was spared the worst Hurricane Idalia’s impact to Florida, the storm still brought rampant flooding to the area overnight and into Wednesday morning.

Rich Collins, director of emergency services for the county, warned that though the storm has passed, the area will feel its effects throughout Wednesday.

“We’re very fortunate that we’re not seeing the major impacts that we saw with Ian but we’re not out of the woods,” he said in a video shared to the county’s Facebook page. “As the storm has passed us, we now have a strong southwest flow of air coming in which is piling water up, so we’re gonna see (storm) surge above the king tide that we’re already scheduled to have at about 11:20 this morning. That’s going to be about 3 to 5 feet above that.”

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The water will “very slowly recede over the afternoon,” he added. “For all our citizens on the barrier islands, this is going to be an issue for the next eight to 10 hours. That water is going to continue to pile up and be a problem for us all day.”

In Sarasota, both the John Ringling Bridge and Siesta Key Bridge are closed to traffic going onto the barrier islands because of flooding to the keys. After high tide around 12:15 p.m. in that area, “it will take hours for the water to recede,” the city wrote in a Facebook post.

U.S. 41 from Main Street to Fruitville Road — the majority of the bayfront — is also closed because of flooding. The city expects that water to recede after high tide.

The intersection of N. Washington Drive and John Ringling Boulevard on St. Armands Circle “is under several feet of water,” the Sarasota Police Department wrote in a Facebook post.

“Do not travel to the barrier islands. It is not safe to be out there and we are expecting conditions to worsen as the day goes on,” the agency said.

Other Sarasota intersections closed because of flooding include:

• Main Street and Gulfstream Avenue
• 1st Street and Pineapple Avenue
• Pineapple Avenue and Palm Avenue
• Gulfstream Avenue and Pineapple Avenue

More barricades will be put out as waters rise on different roads.

“Please stay home. We are expecting more flooding this afternoon during high tide,” police said. “Areas you may be able to drive through now will be underwater later today. Do not go around our officers.”

There’s also flooding at Manasota Beach, Casey Key, Key Roads and Nokomis South Jetty, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.

In Venice, there’s street flooding on Everglades Drive and at Tarpon Center Drive along Golden Beach Boulevard, Villa Drive and Flamingo Drive, the city wrote on its Facebook page.

Venice Avenue at Armada Road is closed while public works staff removes low-hanging branches.
Humphris Park and the South Jetty are also closed, the city said.