Hurricane Helene intensified to a Category 4 storm Sept. 26 on the doorstep of Anna Maria Island’s coastline before making landfall near Perry, southeast of the capital.
Despite being spared a direct hit, Anna Maria Island experienced strong winds, storm surge and severe localized flooding, with Bradenton Beach seeing the most significant damage.
The island’s southernmost city on Sept. 29 was surveyed and it was determined Bradenton Beach was 90%-95% destroyed. The city was deemed a “catastrophic area.”
Earlier, on Sept. 27, the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners convened at the emergency operations center in Bradenton to report on the storm’s impact.
Commission Chair Mike Rahn emphasized the need for patience during assessment of the damage.
“It has been a very long day for Manatee County,” Rahn said. “It is a very serious situation on the island. The beaches have been dramatically affected by unprecedented storm surge, from 5-7 feet.”
He said historically the surge from Helene was the worst since 1980.
Rahn said more than 400 911calls were made overnight, including 300 coming from the island, which had been under an evacuation order issued Sept. 24 and effective beginning at 10 a.m. Sept. 25.
Rahn said county crews Sept. 27 were on the island doing damage assessment.
“This is not going to be a quick recovery for the islands. It’s going to be weeks and maybe months before we fully recover,” he said.
Matt Myers, Manatee County’s chief of emergency management, said people should be careful when the opportunity to return to their homes comes — which arrived about 10 a.m. Sept. 28 for those who evacuated Holmes Beach and Anna Maria — noting that most injuries and hazards happen after the storm.
Jodie Fisk, the county’s director of public safety, added that crews were on the ground on AMI, including in Bradenton Beach, where storm surge and flooding caused roadways to become impassable.
“Right now, our community and veteran’s services department has human needs assessment teams out completing door to door assessments,” Fisk said.
A human needs assessment fills information gaps between current and desired conditions for county residents.
“If you have returned home after evacuating and you find that you have water in the home or significant damages, please call 311 and let them know that you do have temporary housing needs,” she said.
Rahn described the level of damage in island communities, referring to a helicopter ride taken with the sheriff’s office earlier in the day.
“Director Fiske and I were airborne this morning and it’s all bad,” Rahn said. “There are still flooded streets. Sand is blocking streets. Sand is in buildings and homes,” he said. “So it’s going to be a long recovery for citizens to be able to get back out to their homes.”
Rahn also spoke to the state of damage to the roadways in Bradenton Beach saying, “Roads are gone and have been significantly damaged. Gulf Drive in places has been washed out.”
He said crews from the Florida Department of Transportation were assessing the roads.
After the meeting, Rahn spoke with The Islander about access to the island via bridges on Manatee Avenue, Cortez Road and Gulf Drive.
“The bridges are safe to drive on.” Rahn said. “All are drivable and secure. We have heard from our DOT friends. So far as we know, we have no issues with the bridges as soon as they open up the islands and start letting residents go back over.”
Bradenton Beach police Chief John Cosby, who also serves as the city’s emergency manager, spoke to The Islander on Sept. 27 about the storm’s impact.
He said Gulf Drive was blocked and a majority of the roadway was damaged.
“It’s under about 3-4 foot of sand,” Cosby said. “All the sand dunes and the beaches are gone.”
He said residential, commercial and government property was damaged.
“The police department flooded. Public works flooded. We lost a bunch of equipment, lost two police cars. Lost a public works vehicle,” Cosby said.
“I’ve got homes that lost their foundations. I have got homes are in the middle of the road, near 12th Street South,” Cosby said, referring to a residence that came loose from its foundations and floated into the middle of the roadway.
He advised residents to be patient due to damage to infrastructure and loss of utilities.
Cosby also said the city’s finger docks and floating docks at the Historic Bridge Street Pier were damaged. However, the main body of the pier made it through the storm unscathed.
Adding to the city’s woes was the destruction of the city’s undergrounding project. The city began undergrounding utilities in 2018 but Cosby said Sept. 27, “All of the underground power lines are all at the surface. That whole system is shot.”
He said it could be years before the city returned to proper working conditions.