CORTEZ – As residents and business owners cleaned up on Thursday morning following the storm surge from Hurricane Idalia that flooded local roads, the recurring consensus was: “We got lucky.”
“There was no boat damage (to the fleet of fishing boats). We lost a few boards on the dock,” A.P. Bell Fish Co. owner Karen Bell said. “We were very lucky.”
Cortez is one of Florida’s last commercial fishing villages. It hugs the north shore of Sarasota Bay. On Wednesday morning, its roads were underwater, but by that evening, the waters had receded and roads were passable.
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In advance of the storm, A.P. Bell workers had secured the fleet of fishing boats with extra dock lines.
Bell also owns the Star Fish Co. restaurant and co-owns the Tide Tables restaurant.
“Star Fish sits so high we had no water encroachment,” she said. “But Tide Tables got about 6 inches of water.”
Tide Tables co-owner Bobby Woodson said they prepared for the storm by moving out large equipment.
“Before the storm, we moved all the equipment out east,” he said. “This isn’t something we wanted to mess around with.”
On Thursday, the equipment – including freezers – was in the back of a moving truck in the Tide Tables parking lot and ready to be reinstalled.
Tide Tables’ interior had been cleaned and dried by Thursday morning, and workers were shoveling yard debris into the back of a truck for removal.
“We expect to be back open by Saturday,” Woodson said, adding, “This could have been a lot worse.”
Boats at Cortez Bait and Seafood fish house that had been pulled from the water before the storm were back in the water Thursday.
In that same complex, owned by John Banyas, are two restaurants – Cortez Kitchen, which is undergoing renovation, and the Swordfish Grill and Tiki Bar.
“The parking lot was flooded, but the restaurants were OK,” Swordfish manager Adam Sears said on Thursday. “Swordfish sits 10 feet above the water so that was fine, and the work at Cortez Kitchen is moving along. That will be open fairly soon.”
Sears said Sunny Shores trailer park on the north side of Cortez Road was hit hard with flooding during the storm. Sunny Shores fronts Palma Sola Bay.
At Annie’s Bait and Tackle, water never got into the building, but the docks there sustained damage.
“The water came up to the building, but it didn’t get in. I’d say we were lucky,” Annie’s manager said. “The docks need to be repaired though. The middle dock is still usable, but the gas dock is trashed. It’s going to take a little while to get this all fixed.”
Cortez residents Cindy Rodgers and Paul Dreyfoos live about a block from the water. The flooding from the roads in front of their house did not impact their home.
“All good here,” Rodgers wrote in an email to The Sun. “Lucky once again.”
