Sarasota, the city in the eye of the storm, remains largely unscathed

SARASOTA, Fla. – The sun shone again Thursday on the city that had been directly in the path of Hurricane Milton, and as survivors emerged from hiding, many were pleasantly surprised that the damage was not as bad as previously feared.

Most restaurants and grocery stores in Sarasota were closed, a few wrecked cars and trucks lay scattered like toys, some traffic lights were functioning while others were completely gone, and dozens of palm trees were broken like branches or reduced to splinters.

Famous cultural landmarks like the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and the Sarasota Opera House remained closed, as did many of the roads leading into this city of 55,000 — not that there was much traffic.

Despite being on the water and vulnerable to flooding, downtown Sarasota and the rest of the city appeared to have largely escaped the storm surges that inundated southern cities such as Venice, South Venice, Englewood and Manasota Key.

“There's a lot of cleanup to do, but I expected worse,” said Michelle Simmons, 59, who weathered the storm in her third-floor apartment in Sarasota on Wednesday.

As Simmons stood with her daughter on Bayfront Drive, she said that after being cooped up in the apartment overnight, they were able to come out to get some “fresh air.”

“I expected it to be underwater, but that’s not the case,” Simmons said. “I'm surprised we can walk around here.”

Milton raced ashore on nearby Siesta Key on Wednesday evening and then marched through central Florida overnight, killing at least a dozen people, knocking out power to more than three million customers, triggering dozens of tornadoes and causing heavy rains that spread widespread caused floods.

It was bad, but it could have been much worse, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters Thursday.

“The storm was significant, but fortunately this was not the worst-case scenario,” DeSantis said. “The storm weakened before making landfall and, as originally reported, the overall storm surge was not as significant as what was observed with Hurricane Helene.”

Sarasota County Emergency Management Director Sandra Tapfumaneyi told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune that the county appeared to have been hit by a storm surge of 7 to 8 feet, but that it was mostly on the barrier islands and some areas further inland.

Still, Milton was scary. And 53-year-old Maurice Williams said he was glad he followed the advice of local authorities and evacuated Sarasota before the storm hit the city.

When he returned to his home, Williams said there was minor flooding and a tree in the front yard had fallen.

“We kind of got lucky,” Williams said. “It hit us hard. But at the end of the day we were still lucky because we saw what happened in the last storm and that could very well have happened in this storm or worse.”

Williams said Hurricane Helene, which hit the area 13 days earlier and caused deadly devastation from Florida to North Carolina, opened the eyes of many Sarasota residents who might have ignored evacuation warnings.

“I think they did a great job of warning people and making them afraid to come out here because you never know,” Williams said of local officials, who had been warning residents for days that their city was in trouble It was hit.

Tim Roxby, a 67-year-old British expat who has lived in Florida for four years, said he didn't believe in what he called the “media hype” and stayed in his Sarasota home instead of evacuating.

“The Weather Channel just went on and on all day long,” Roxby said, warning of 20- to 30-foot waves. “And it turned out to be 7 or 8 feet.”

Still, Roxby said he was relieved when he woke up to find his house in one piece. And to celebrate their good fortune, he and his wife took a walk along Sarasota Bay.

“This is Florida,” Roxby said. “Come out into the sun.”

Not everyone in town was so lucky. Two of the dozen or so boats docked at the Bayfront Marina, including a $4 million yacht, were capsized by the storm.

Yacht broker Steve Stevens shook his head as he surveyed the damage.

“It is very sad to see something like this. I mean, it’s really heartbreaking,” Stephens said. “But I’m actually surprised there isn’t more damage.”

Elena Ianakiev, who lost one of her cafes to the wrath of Helene, also weathered that storm at her home in Sarasota and feared the worst when she ventured downtown to see how her other restaurant, Green Zebra Cafe, was doing , he went.

“We were ready for this,” she said. “First one was gone, then the other would be gone. We’re so close to the bay.”

But it was fine, even though Ianakiev's place was one of the few shops open.

“We said, 'Oh God, we're going to be spared,'” she said. “We are so happy and relieved.”

Matt Lavietes reported from Sarasota and Corky Siemaszko from New York City.