Manatee County Sheriff Rick Wells summed up the emergency management's final Hurricane Irma briefing with a simple but important message: “We dodged a bullet.”
Irma, now a tropical storm as it moves north, spared Bradenton and Manatee County from some of its worst impacts. But the city and county are still dealing with massive power outages, storm damage, road closures and storm damage. The area remains under a tropical storm wind warning. There is the potential for tropical-storm force winds of up to 39 miles per hour through the day Monday.
The mandatory curfew that went into effect Sunday at 3 p.m. was lifted earlier Monday. Wells said residents cooperated with the order and there were no issues or arrests.
Power remains out for more than half of Manatee County’s 184,900 Florida Power & Light’s customers. More than 23,000 Peace River Electric Cooperative customers were without power as of 10 a.m., according to the county.
LATEST UPDATE: Power is out for more than half of Manatee County
Several roads, including parts of State Road 64, are closed. SR 64 is closed from Verna Bethany to Duette due to downed power lines, according to the county. The county said it has a report of flooding on Rye Road. Wells urged caution for residents traveling in the county, and the sheriff’s office, via Twitter, asked drivers to remain off the roads unless “absolutely necessary.” Intersections without power should be tested as a four-way stop sign.
Tampa International Airport has no flights scheduled Monday, but most will resume Tuesday or Wednesday, the airport announced on Twitter.
Damage assessment will continue throughout the day and FEMA has declared the county as a natural disaster, opening the door for claims to begin.
“We were lucky, very fortunate,” said Emergency Management Chief Sherilyn Burris.
Officials caution everyone to remain patient in the days ahead as crews work to restore power and get fuel trucks into the county. In the meantime, some 20,000 residents return to their homes today from local shelters.
Commissioner Robin Disabatino thanked the school district for all they did to accommodate everyone.
“We were very fortunate to be spared,” she said.
The only known crime associated to the storm was a convenience store burglary which the sheriff's office is investigating.
Anna Maria Island
Anna Maria Island will contend with drinking water issues due to saltwater intrusion, but Wells said no significant damage was reported from the island. Bridges to Anna Maria Island remain closed, according to the Manatee Sheriff Twitter account.
The island is dealing with minor flooding in roadways and parking lots and plenty of debris. Tree branches and palm fronds littered nearly every stretch of road, though streets were manageable.
Low hanging and downed power lines were found on several roads and there was a snapped power pole near the Anna Maria City Pier.
The Pier itself was missing a large portion of its roof. The bright silver alarm light flashing from the edge of the Pier was visible from the partially submerged parking lot.
Dale Woodland, Anna Maria City commissioner, rode out the storm in his island home and was at the Pier Monday morning camera in hand trying to get a peek at the damage.
"On the north side you can see it, all the panels are gone. Obviously that's not going to be up in a while," Woodland said.
He pointed out damage on the Walk way as well.
Rain continued to shower the island Monday morning. Trees were still swaying under the winds whipping off the Gulf of Mexico.
Conditions
Earlier Monday, law enforcement officials began clearing the roads, and Manatee County and Tampa Bay have been downgraded to a tropical storm warning.
"We had one team of beach paramedics do a predawn assessment in West Bradenton," county spokesman Nicholas Azzara said.
Reports so far are "very good,” he said.
Another small first-in team went around to other parts of the county.
"There is very little damage around Manatee County,” Azzarra said.
Some downed power lines and downed trees were spotted. There were no signs of major flooding and most of the damage seen was what the county sees during a typical summer thunderstorm.
Signs of power on Anna Maria Island were observed at a distance, he said, but first responders did not go out onto the island.
Heavy winds and rain pounded Bradenton last night as the center of Hurricane Irma stayed to the east and moved north of the city, but reports early Monday indicated that Manatee County was spared the brunt of the storm’s wrath.
Forecast
Irma made landfall farther south than expected, sparing the Tampa Bay region some of the storm's harshest conditions like those seen near where the storm came ashore in Naples. At 2 a.m. Manatee and other parts of the area were getting lashed with hurricane-force winds as the storm moved north-northwest at 15 miles per hour, but by 5 a.m. residents woke up to calmer winds.
The storm had maximum sustained winds of 85 mph. By 8 a.m. Monday, it had sustained winds of 70 mph and was moving further inland, about 105 miles north of Tampa, with hurricane-force winds extending 60 miles form Irma’s center.
Forecasts show the storm moving up the western Florida Peninsula Monday morning and then into the southeastern U.S. Monday into Tuesday.
Irma came ashore in Florida for the second time earlier Sunday afternoon at Marco Island, as Hurricane forecasters warned of massive storm surge along the west coast of Florida as the storm continues to move north.
Earlier in the day, Irma crossed over the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane, then dropped to a Category 3 storm. At 5 p.m., it was downgraded to a Category 2 storm.