Live updates: Bradenton, Manatee clean up after Hurricane Ian

Bradenton and Manatee County started resuming some normal operations Monday as residents and workers continued cleanup after Hurricane Ian.

Here’s what residents need to know:

Three local deaths

Three people in Manatee County were reported among the 68 confirmed dead from Hurricane Ian, the Florida District Medical Examiners said Monday night.

There are now three dead in Sarasota and one in Hillsborough, among many more in the more southern counties.

Damage assessments

Manatee County said in a Monday email that $72 million in residential damage and $13.5 in commercial damage has been calculated — with about 90% of surveys completed. There were:

• 7 structures destroyed
• 173 structures with major damage
• 610 structures with minor damage
• 1,809 structures affected.

Of the 232 traffic signals in the county, 104 were damaged and 44 have been repaired with 15 still on generator power.

Due to high water, the following roads remain closed:

• Wauchula Rd., 1 Mile north of Ballard
• 3775 Singletary Rd.,
• 30607 Singletary Rd., Myakka
• Clay Gully Rd., Myakka
• Jim Davis Rd., at bridge crossing
• SR70, at the Manatee/Desoto County Line

For Interstate 75:

• Sarasota County – Exit 182 (Sumter Boulevard) ramps are back open
• Desoto County – Southbound U.S. 17 lanes are back open, and northbound U.S. 17 previously closed areas remain closed, with the possibility of reopening tomorrow.

Power outages

There were 38,950 FPL customers still without power in Manatee County as of Monday morning. That’s down from a peak of 198,710.

FPL shared a timeline Saturday:

• Northern part of the county – late Tuesday
• Southern part of the county – Wednesday evening
• A tiny pocket of the county bordering Sarasota – Sunday.

Peace River Electric Cooperative was reporting 760 Manatee County outages as of 9:51 a.m., down from a peak of 36, 372 outages.

Many of those still without power are in the Myakka City area.

“Water levels in the Myakka City areas are receding slowly,” the county email said. “We anticipate that the recovery efforts underway will continue there through the end of the week — at least.”

County trash, debris pickup, recycling

Manatee County routine solid waste collection resumed on Monday.

Residents can take their yard storm debris (tree limbs, palm fronds, and other vegetative matter) to the Manatee County landfill starting today.

County contractors are scheduled to begin collection of yard storm debris on Wednesday.

Manatee County has hired three contractors to handle collection of yard storm debris. In the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in 2017, the county had only one contractor.

Cleanup is expected to take several months. Contractors are still getting their crews together, Bill Logan, Manatee County’s information outreach manager, said Monday.

One of the challenges is that communities from Estero to Hudson are looking for the same kind of help following Hurricane Ian, Logan said.

“We will be cleaning up for months, but we learned lessons from Irma,” Logan said.

There will be three collection and management sites established for transport to the landfill, he said.

Recycling

Recycling for county residents is on pause until further notice. In the meantime, recycling can be dropped off 24/7 at the following locations:

• GT Bray Park, 5502 33rd Ave. Dr. W., Bradenton
• Braden River Park, 5201 51st. St. E., Bradenton
• Blackstone Park, 2112 14th Ave. W., Palmetto
• Lakewood Ranch Park, 5350 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Bradenton
• Buffalo Creek Park 7550 69th St. E., Palmetto
• Bayfront Park, 310 North Bay Blvd., Anna Maria
• Manatee Public Beach, 4000 Gulf Dr., Holmes Beach
• Coquina Beach, 2650 Gulf Drive S., Bradenton Beach
• Bennett Park, 400 Cyprus Creek Blvd., Bradenton
• Palma Sola Park, 7915 40th Ave W., Bradenton

City of Bradenton trash, debris pickup, recycling

In the City of Bradenton, routine garbage collection resumed on Monday.

On Tuesday, Bradenton’s debris hauling vendors will begin collecting debris from Hurricane Ian with these guidelines:

• Separate bags and barrels of debris from loose piles. Contracted debris haulers will not collect bags and barrels. Those will be collected by City of Bradenton yard waste crews separately.
• Don’t put any debris near obstructions such as water meters/backflow assemblies, mailboxes or directly under power lines.
• Separate your yard waste/debris from any other types of waste that you may be placing at the curb.
• Don’t pile loose debris on top of bags, barrels or other wastes, or vice versa. This will delay collection.
• Do rake up any loose leaves left after debris haulers collect your piles. Place these in bags or your blue yard waste barrels and the City will collect those as part of normal yard waste.

The City of Bradenton’s recycling centers will not be put back out until Monday, Oct. 10. The city’s recycling vendor, Waste Pro, is not accepting recycling this week.

Palmetto, Longboat Key, Anna Maria Island trash pickup

Waste Management resumed routine trash pickup in Palmetto, Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island on Monday. Recycling service was not impacted by the storm.

Schools reopen Tuesday

Manatee County’s traditional schools and support sites will resume regular operations on Tuesday. Bus transportation will resume along with all after-school activities and athletics.

After Hurricane Ian, the school district had 16 schools and two support sites without power.

Most boil water notices lifted, lift stations restored

Boil water notices put in place for some parts of Manatee County after Hurricane Ian have mostly been lifted.

A boil water notice remains in effect for three mobile home communities — Terra Ceia Village, Leisure Lake Co-Op and Sugar Creek Mobile Home Park Estates.

Power has been restored to lift stations across the county, and residents can resume normal levels of water use for flushing, bathing and laundry, the county said Sunday.

Free food

Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee resumed normal operations on Monday for all programs.

The Food Bank of Manatee, a PLUS program, will be hosting three free food distributions on Monday:

• Lincoln Park, 501 17th Street East, Palmetto, FL 34221 from 1-3 p.m.
• Myakka Family Worship Center, 33420 Singletary Road, Myakka City, FL 34251 from 1-3 p.m.
• Pride Park, 815 63rd Avenue East, Bradenton, FL 34203, from 1-3 p.m.

Quantities are limited and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Feeding Tampa Bay will host a pop-up “mega pantry” on Tuesday in Bradenton:

▪ 4:30-6 p.m. Tuesday at Desoto Square Mall, 303 301 Blvd. W., Bradenton.

Church of Christ will host a pantry on Saturday in Bradenton:

▪ 7:30-9 a.m. Saturday at Church of Christ, 204 Martin Luther King Ave. E., Bradenton

Health dept. open

The Florida Department of Health in Manatee County resumed normal operations Monday.

Manatee South Center, the Department’s satellite location at 7780 Westmoreland Drive, will remain closed.

Flood threat abates

The flood threat in Manatee County had receded on Monday and Manatee County was no longer making releases from the Lake Manatee Dam.

The Manatee River near Myakka Head at State Road 64 East had dropped to 9.7 feet, below flood stage of 11 fee. The Manatee River at Rye Bridge had also dropped below flood stage.

This story was originally published October 3, 2022 10:41 AM.