State Of Emergency Declared In Manatee County

Tiffany Razzano
Updated ·3 min read

MANATEE COUNTY, FL — At its Tuesday meeting, the Manatee County Board of Commissioners declared a state of emergency in Manatee County as Tropical Storm Eta moved toward Florida’s west coast.

At the time the state of emergency was issued, Manatee County officials called the storm “a Thursday/Friday event” on Twitter. The track has shifted since then, though.

A tropical storm warning and storm surge watches were issued for portions of the west coast, including coastal Manatee and Sarasota counties, and other parts of the Tampa Bay area, on Tuesday night. Eta is forecast to continue moving closer to, but offshore, the southwest coast of Florida on Wednesday. By Wednesday night, it’s expected to approach the state’s west-central coast. On Thursday, the storm should move inland over the northern portion of the Florida peninsula.

Eta passed through the Florida Keys and South Florida Sunday and Monday, flooding neighborhoods and leaving more than 270,000 without power. Early Monday morning, Manatee and Sarasota counties were also in a tropical storm warning. This expired by 10 a.m. that day, though, as the storm moved away from the state and into the Gulf of Mexico.

Anticipating the storm’s eventual shift back toward Florida later in the week, the county’s public safety director, Jacob Saur, encouraged residents to prepare for Eta’s arrival during a Monday morning news conference.

County officials suggested that residents do the following to prepare for Eta:

  • Have a disaster kit and plan in place.

  • Pick up loose items that could blow around from lawns, patios and lanais.

  • Fill up gas their gas tanks.

The National Weather Service also had the following suggestions to prepare for hurricanes and tropical storms:

  • Learn their evacuation zone by contacting their local government/emergency management office or by checking this evacuation site website.

  • Check emergency equipment, such as flashlights, generators and storm shutters.

  • Review insurance policies to ensure that they have adequate coverage for your home and personal property.

  • Charge cell phones, laptops and other devices.

Manatee County has no current plans to open public shelters or to distribute sandbags, though. Residents can find a list of sandbag distribution sites and their status online here. Currently, all sandbag distribution sites in the county are closed.

Holmes Beach residents can pick up sandbags at Holmes Beach City Hall, located at 5801 Marine Drive in Holmes Beach, though. And Longboat Key Residents have access to sandbags at the Broadway Beach access site, located at 100 Broadway Street in Longboat Key.

For now, the public COVID-19 testing site at the Bradenton Area Convention Center, located at 1 Haben Blvd. in Palmetto, remains open and will only close when strong winds and rain arrive. In the event of a weather-related closure, the testing site manager says they will reopen as quickly as conditions allow.

Manatee County Schools are already closed Wednesday in observance of Veterans Day. Updates can be found on Twitter @ManateeSchools.

Manatee County residents can find storm information and evacuation zones at www.mymanatee.org/information. Residents can also follow the county on Facebook at www.facebook.com/manatee.county.fl and on Twitter @ManateeGov for updates.

This article originally appeared on the Bradenton Patch