Fay was 'best scenario'

SARASOTA COUNTY - As Tropical Storm Fay made its way northeast, officials here lifted an evacuation order for mobile home residents and began ramping down operations at the emergency center.

At 9 a.m., the county lifted a mandatory evacuation order for residents living in mobile homes and a voluntary evacuation for those living in flood prone areas.

Sarasota County schools will be open Wednesday.

“The storm track deviated way to the east,” said Sarasota County Emergency Services Director Ed McCrane. “This was the best scenario for us. Sarasota County was the only county in the area not under a tornado warning.”

McCrane and other staffers at the county’s Emergency Operations Center went into a monitoring mode Tuesday morning after a busy night following the storm. Early in the morning before 7 a.m. the room was full of police, fire, public works officials and other county and city staffers. By 9 a.m., only a dozen people were in the storm watch center on the sixth floor of the county administration building in downtown Sarasota.

After Fay made landfall in Cape Romano, about 135 miles south of Sarasota, at 5 a.m., storm-tracking reports over the next few hours showed Fay jogging away from the Southwest Florida coastline.

McCrane cautioned that heavy rains and winds were still possible throughout the day. But the forecast looked bright enough for the county’s bus service to begin running routes again.

On Monday night while weather reports ranged on where exactly Fay would make landfall, 299 residents stayed in three Sarasota County shelters and another 150 people with special needs stayed at two shelters that had oxygen and other medical supplies. Joining their owners, 18 pets stayed at two pet friendly shelters overnight.

Also back to normal, garbage pickup in the county will resume Wednesday. Residents who had scheduled garage pickup today can leave their garbage out Wednesday. In the city of Sarasota, garbage pickup will resume Wednesday also for residents’ next regular pickup.