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| LSPOA Pavilion roof blown or washed into Tom McInerney's pool during Hurricane Helene |
Lack of electricity, water, internet, wind and surge damage notwithstanding, we survived. Neighbors pitched in to check on each other's homes, assessing the damage and helping remove soggy belongings.
This story surely just scratches the surface of the true impact each of us encountered and are still experiencing today.
If you have a story and/or pictures or videos to share, please let me know. Send them to bthill@icloud.com.
BT
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Previous hurricanes Michael, Debby and Idalia were no slouches. But they were just the coming attractions compared to the one-two punches of Hurricane Helene and historic Hurricane Milton. Despite passing Sarasota in the Gulf some 100-plus miles to the west on the evening of Thursday, September 26th, round-one Helene left a lasting, surge driven impact on our neighborhood. And Wednesday night, October 9th's Milton made nearly a direct hit, the first since 1921, with landfall just south over Siesta Key, pounding us with savage winds and rain.
Hurricane Helene
First to Helene. An estimated 5-8 foot storm surge began in earnest around 8 pm... and for some 3-plus hours... pushed a steady wall of Gulf and Bay water onshore, flooding streets, creeping into homes and garages, overtopping pools and, doing what other storms have tried and failed over the years, erasing our iconic Pavilion from the beach. Its steel roof and some beams washed into neighbor Tom McInerney's backyard and pool, while more Pavilion remnants turned up in Carrie and Ken Cox's yard. All that's left of the Pav on the beach... a piling or two poking out from the sand.
Numerous homes, including long time neighbors Miriam and Stu Cassell on Center Place are coping with the impact of salty, debris filled sea water that covered floors with a sticky ooze of mud that ruined a lifetime's worth of valuable belongings.
"We've been here 27-years and have never experienced anything like this," Miriam said. It took seven- days for the power to be restored at their home, thanks to a faulty transformer and lines that run through tangled trees across the backyards of Center Place and Morningside Place homes. Rehabbing the older frame home, one of the few still on ground level in Lido Shores will take time. "One-day at a time," Miriam says.
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| Storm surge streaming down Center Place during Helene |
We're surrounded by four distinct bodies of water on this island: The Gulf of Mexico, New Pass (from Gulf to Bay), Pansy Bayou and Sarasota Bay. All took part in the destruction. Most of Lido Shores homes still on grade took in varying levels of water, from one to 15-inches.
On Westway Drive, long-time Lido Shorian Susan Sloan, has seen storms come and go for 32-years. But this time was different. Water poured in from New Pass and from the river streaming down Westway drive, at one-time reaching 15-inches in her home. Susan says she's already filled two dumpsters, had her dock destroyed and car totalled. Speaking on the phone while cleaning water from kitchen cabinets, Susan said: " I'm actually really blessed. I'm still here and have another car that works. I've never seen anything like this. In the past, I've been somewhat arrogant about riding out hurricanes. But after Helene, not anymore."
Sludge and muck were left on Lido Shores interior streets as well. On Center Place, new owners Steve and Ursula Guyer had just finished remodeling their home at 1186 Center Place. Recently moving here from Chicago, they watched as several inches of slimy sea water ruined drywall, rugs and furniture.
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| Solar dock lights illuminate storm surge overtopping dock and seawall at Thill's home on John Ringling Pkwy |
On Lido Shores Bayside, a seven-foot storm surge overtopped pools, crept into garages and left piles of seagrass and debris. At our home on 1456 John Ringling Parkway, Susie and I watched as the water found a way over our rip-rap seawall and then rose another three-feet up our lanai wall. We've been here going on 20-years, and echo the comments of other long-timers. This is the worst flooding, by far, that we've experienced.
The surge also severely damaged our dock, as well as our neighbor Alice Allen's dock. And also pushed a boat over her seawall and into her backyard. Alice wryly commented that the good news in all of this is, "At least a got a new boat." But unlike so many, our home was spared, and we too feel fortunate it wasn't worse.
Pavilion Destroyed
Helene also claimed our beacon on the beach, The Pavilion. Constructed in 2004 at a cost of $72,500, raised in part by a $389 assessment, the Pavilion has been a symbol of our neighborhood resilience. It's hosted sunset gatherings, Grand Prix Boat races, birthday parties, sunset gatherings and countless other informal functions. The Pav has weathered every storm since, and in 2018 was nearly washed into the Gulf by waves from a tropical storm.
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| A concrete piling, a bench and scattered debris all that's left of the Pav |
But it took Helene, some 150-miles off the coast, to do what other major Hurricanes could not. Pieces of the Pav were found on Friday after the storm had passed in member Bill McInerney's backyard. The roof covered his pool.
LSPOA President Bill Farber says the Board of Directors will take up the issue of whether to attempt to build another neighborhood shelter at its next board meeting, a date to be determined. Numerous issues stand in the way. Chief among them, the viability of even getting a permit to put a structure up, on or near the beach. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome as we contemplate a potential Pav-less future.
Hurricane Milton
Now to Milton. After the recent reality of Helene, nearly everyone in Lido Shores fled the island ahead of the storm's dire predictions of a 10-15 foot storm surge. It arrived over Siesta Key in the evening hours as a Category 3, with wind gusts of 100-mph. Susie and I rode out Helene, but this time got a flight from Fort Meyers late Monday night to Kansas City, ahead of Wednesday's landfall.
Several made it to other Midwestern towns. Bob and Anne Essner, along with Cathy and Jan Voigts flew to New York. Others to Ft. Lauderdale. Many neighbors went to inland homes of friends, or we lucky enough to find a hotel room. Erika Ivanyi and Matthias Schubnell wound up hunkering down in a shelter at Fruitville Elementary school with their two pugs. Erika's sister is an art teacher there. Then on to a friend's home in the Meadows after Milton passed.
Ross and Shelly Masters again braved the storm at their Morningside Drive home on Pansy Bayou, along with Sandra Appignani and Mark Baumgarten. The following morning Ross reported seeing little of the water damage brought by Helene... but lots of tree damage and wind debris. Ross put it succinctly, texting, "We dodged a big-ass bullet." So true. The eye wall, with its erie silence, reportedly seen over Downtown Sarasota.
Alice Allen's pool cage on the Bay was destroyed... and her second floor roof ripped away. Elliott Himelfarb, who along with Janet Minker and dog Gracie sheltered at a friends home inland, reported the little Ringling Bridge down to one lane due to potential structural damage. The west bound lanes are reportedly back to normal for now, with repair work starting on October 13th.
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| St. Armands Circle flooded during both Hurricanes damaging numerous business and restaurants |
St. Armand's Circle again took on another 2 to 2-1/2 feet of water, down from Helene's surge, but still devastating to businesses and restaurants already swamped with cleanup efforts. Three portable auxiliary pumps helped to bring Circle water levels down more quickly this time around. Our sister keys, Longboat and Siesta, bore a larger brunt of the impact than we.
Unfortunately, hurricane season lasts another 6-weeks, so we're not out of the woods quite yet.
Continue to stay safe!
Bob Thill
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