Hurricane Debby passed over Anna Maria Island on Sunday as a tropical storm, strengthening to a Category 1 hurricane by late evening and making landfall on Monday morning in north Florida, while still whipping AMI with its tail.
The Island was not placed under a mandatory evacuation order, although evacuation was encouraged by Manatee County Emergency Operations staff. Power to the Island was not intentionally turned off to encourage people to voluntarily evacuate, but power outages, false fire alarms and flooded roads affected the Island.
No serious injuries were reported as of press time.
Bradenton Beach Police Chief John Cosby reported that roads were flooded and trees were down on Monday morning, and that Debby damaged the floating dock and the police boat at the Bradenton Beach Pier.
Anna Maria Mayor Dan Murphy reported flooding on the north end of the city, with saltwater from Tampa Bay breaching seawalls. Pine Avenue was without power Monday morning, as well as other parts of the city, and Sen. Jim Boyd escalated power outage response. Murphy also said that sightseers caused problems driving through flooded streets, which can push water into homes.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth said the city weathered the storm well despite some flooding. A tree fell on Marina Drive on Monday and police were able to move it and reopen the road; another tree tell on Sunday in the 6800 block of Palm Drive and police used chainsaws to remove the tree and reopen the road. Police Chief Bill Tokajer said the city fared well, but still had roads with standing water on Monday morning.
FEMA announced that federal disaster assistance is available to Florida residents resulting from Debby.
Nearly 12 inches of rain was reported at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport on Sunday, a record daily rainfall.
