The Lake Sarasota Community Blog

The latest county update on Isaac - three county storm shelters are open - in Sarasota, it's Brookside Elementary, 3636 S. Shade Ave. - pet friendly. The other two are in North Port. More here.

Tropical Storm Isaac could affect our area. Get updates from the National Hurricane Center as well as other sites. Some useful links: NHC IbisEye Fox Hurricane Storm info from Sarasota County Hurricane Guide - Preparation Sarasota County Emergency Services Hurricane Shelter List  (Pet shelters indicated) Another Shelter List (that can be printed out) Pet Preparedness Pet Shelter Admission Form Evacuation Routes  ( noted in red) Road Conditions - F511 Statewide Disaster Info

The usual advice on hurricane preparedness from Sarasota Patch : List of Sarasota Shelters Sarasota County’s Emergency Management Chief Ed McCrane describes this weather season as being in neutral having going in between a La Nina and El Nino, which will start about October. When forecasts are given this year, the National Weather Service will talk about hurricanes in terms of category and storm surge to help flood planning. “The category of the storm is determined by the winds associated with that hurricane,” McCrane said. “The storm tide or storm surge is going to be a totally different matter. You may hear that it’s only a Category 2 hurricane but carrying 20 feet of storm surge. That’s a big indicator of what we use of what evacuation zones we need to evacuate.” McCrane stressed having a good disaster kit ready along with some other pre-storm preparations.  “We want them to have enough provisions for at least three days preferably a week,” McCrane said, “but they...

Sarasota Hurricane Shelter Info - this will be a permalink in the right-hand column.