Sarasota, city in the eye of the storm, emerges mostly unscathed
Residents of Sarasota, Florida, which was in the eye of Hurricane Milton, were surprised to learn that the damage to the city wasn't as bad as had been expected.
SARASOTA, Fla. — The sun was shining again Thursday in the city that had been directly in the path of Hurricane Milton, and when survivors emerged from their hiding places, many were pleasantly surprised to find the damage wasn’t as bad as they had feared.
Most restaurants and grocery stores in Sarasota were shuttered, a few wrecked cars and trucks were strewn about like toys, some traffic lights were working while others were completely gone and dozens of palm trees were snapped like twigs or reduced to splinters.
Famous cultural destinations like the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and the Sarasota Opera House remained closed, and so were many of the roads leading into this city of 55,000 — not that there was much traffic.
Despite being on the water and susceptible to flooding, downtown Sarasota and the rest of town appeared to have mostly escaped the storm surges that inundated cities to the south, like Venice, South Venice, Englewood and Manasota Key.
“There’s a lot of cleanup that needs to be done, but I expected worse,” said 59-year-old Michelle Simmons, who rode out the storm Wednesday in her third-floor Sarasota apartment.
Rating: 5