St. Armands Residents Association |
September 10, 1960 |
July 28, 1998 | The City of Sarasota enters into an Interlocal agreement with Sarasota County to maintain all storm water systems located in the City of Sarasota. |
2006 | A major stormwater improvement project was completed on St. Armands. A map of pump stations and baffle boxes, and a summary of the project details, can be viewed here. Not all of St. Armands Key drains by gravity alone. Previous to this project, there was a single pump station on St. Armands (PS 2005). This project rehabilitated that pump station, added four additional pump stations (for a total of five), added baffle boxes to collect debris and prevent it from reaching the pumps, and added two backup generators to power the pumps. |
June 25, 2012 | Tropical Storm Debby dumped a prodigious amount of rain across Southwest Florida - Herald-Tribune , Wikipedia |
October 9, 2018 | Hurricane Michael passed to the west, as did Idalia (see August 30, 2023), but the high tide and storm surge did not combine to reach as high as Idalia (perhaps it may have been a high tide, but not a king tide?) - Tampa Bay 10 , Wikipedia |
September 12, 2022 | Heavy rain flooded some Circle businesses - ABC7 |
September 28, 2022 | Hurricane Ian passes 40 miles to the south causing massive wind and flooding damage to many southwest Florida communities. This storm caused a lot of damage in the region, but, on St. Armands Key, this was a wind event only, not a flooding event. Sarasota Magazine article , Observer article , Sarasota Magazine article , Wikipedia |
August 30, 2023 | Hurricane Idalia passed far enough to our west that there was no significant wind impact, but it happened to coincide with a king tide event resulting in significant flooding on the streets of St. Armands that persisted a full day in some sections. We estimate that there was a 3-4' storm surge on top of the unusually high tide. This was probably the most significant flooding event on St. Armands since Hurricane Donna in 1960 (63 years ago). Observer article , Herald-Tribune article , Wikipedia Unfortunately, the electrical control panels for the five St. Armands pump stations were surface mounted and got submerged by the floodwater, rendering them inoperable. Coincidentally, a car crashed into the control system for one of the pump stations the day before the storm (details). It is also believed that another one of the pump stations was offline, waiting for replacement parts which were on order. It is unknown to what extent, if any, operational pumps would have ameliorated the flooding. The flooding damaged many homes and businesses. Even the bottom level of the St. Armands Parking Garage was flooded, as well as 27 parking pay stations, per this City email. The meditation garden at the St. Armands Key Lutheran Church was completely destroyed. |
August 31, 2023 | The County sent out the following emergency update the day after the storm (Aug. 31 at 5pm): |
September 7, 2023 |
ABC7 News article and video: Sarasota County reviewing improvements to emergency pump systems post Hurricane Idalia
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October 3, 2023 | Herald-Tribune article: NWS Hurricane Idalia report: Most damage in Sarasota and Manatee came from storm surge |
September-October 2023 | The St. Armands Residents Association had several communications with the Sarasota County Public Works Director and we sent several update emails to our membership. |
October 2023 | 2023 Annual Member SurveyWhat property damage (building and/or landscaping) did you sustain from the recent flooding? (n=152)
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November 7, 2023 | At a Regular Meeting of the St. Armands Residents Association Board, the Sarasota County Director of Public Works, the City of Sarasota Director of Public Works, and the City Engineer were all present to answer questions about the flooding from Hurricane Idalia. The Sarasota County Director of Public Works gave this presentation. |
December 17, 2023 | Another flooding event; at 2:30am, the Sarasota Police Department issued an alert on their Facebook page stating that roadways on St Armands Circle were underwater and that the area was closed. Flooding was so bad that the Lutheran Church had to cancel all their Sunday morning religious services. There was a fairly high tide (but not a king tide) and fairly high winds, which resulted in in 3-or-so feet of storm surge. On one property, the "frack line" looked to be about a foot lower in height than it was during Hurricane Idalia.
The County told us:
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January 4, 2024 | Response to our concerns from County Stormwater Operations Manager: CONCERN #1. Many residents don’t understand why the County doesn’t think that years of vegetation, mulch, and litter may have caused at least partial blockages of storm drains and pipes below grade
CONCERN #2. Due to the volume of water on our streets after both recent flooding events, many residents lack confidence that the outfalls (discharge pipes) have fully operational backflow preventers
CONCERN #3. For those residents who now know they are faced with the possibility of flooding, how do we keep them from endangering their lives by patrolling the streets with metal rakes, in the middle of a storm with high winds and in the dark of night, to make sure that storm drains are not getting covered with vegetation?
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January 4, 2024 | The following picture was taken yesterday at Pump Station PS 2005: One of the workers told a resident that "They are removing the pump that was found to have a large piece of concrete lodged in it". County response:
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January 8, 2024 | SARA sends these follow-up questions to the County Stormwater Operations Manager:
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January 8, 2024 | Email from County Stormwater Operations Manager:
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January 9, 2024 | Another winter storm with high winds but minimal rain caused some flooding near the St. Armands Parking Garage due to continued problems with some pump stations. The County told us:
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January 12, 2024 | Response to our questions from County Stormwater Operations Manager: What happened at PS 7010 and PS 2005 on January 9, and what's going to be done about it? How do we make sure that our streets and medians are cleared of dead vegetation and litter in advance of a storm event? Because, if we don't, if there is no such coordination, December 17 shows us that our stormwater management system will be ineffective. You mentioned that we have four Tide Flex Valves (backflow preventers) on the system, but I believe we have a total of eight outfalls (discharge pipes). Do the other half of our outfalls have any type of backflow preventer? The outfall from PS 2005, and the two at the north end of the island, don't appear to have any sort of "duckbill" on the end. On December 17, if a resident had called 311 to report flooding at 2am, would you or anyone else have been on-call to come out over night? Or would you have not come out until you did? In the same way that you have SCADA-technology to alert you to a failure with the pump, is there some type of "float" that could be placed in a cylinder on the ground that could also use SCADA to automatically alert you in real-time that water was rising above grade? But, I guess it wouldn't matter if there was no one on-call to come out in real time.
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January 22, 2024 | Last week, the County replaced the backflow prevention valves at our Pump Station PS 2005, located in the northeast residential quadrant at the intersection of N Washington Dr and Madison Dr. Notes from conversation with County Stormwater Operations Manager:
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February 5, 2024 | Another storm came through the area in the morning. A resident sent a picture of standing water all around a storm drain outside of the Lutheran Church, which the maps show draining to PS 7010. |
February 7, 2024 | Picture showing continued work on PS 2005: |
February 14, 2024 | County Stormwater Operations Manager response to questions about County Service Protocols for servicing our stormwater management system:
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February 15, 2024 | County Stormwater Operations Manager responds to resident inquiry:
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April 10, 2024 | County Stormwater Operations Manager provides update on pump station repairs:
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April 11, 2024 | Flooding across from St Armands Lutheran Church, reported as being “up to my knees in ten minutes” by St Armands resident. County response:
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April 17, 2024 | The City of Sarasota sent out this tri-fold brochure with flooding information in the monthly water bill. |
How to Report IssuesThe City of Sarasota has an Interlocal agreement with Sarasota County to maintain all storm water systems located in the City of Sarasota. Report issues to Sarasota County by dialing 311, calling 941-861-500, or by using the County's "311 Connect" app. More information can be found here. |
Interactive Sarasota Stormwater MapThe County provides this online, interactive Sarasota Stormwater Map showing the location of storm drains, discharge pipes, and other elements of the stormwater management system. You can zoom in and out to find St. Armands, and then click on the "legend" and "layers" buttons (top right) to view or specify what gets shown on the map. Note: There are some stormwater management features on the west side of St. Armands that are not incorporated in the interactive map which you can view here. This mapping tool was used to help create the following illustration showing how stormwater gets removed from St. Armands Key: |
Helpful Info & Links
The Sarasota Bay Estuary Program has more information on king tides here.
In Sarasota, our typical high tides are in the 1.3-1.8' range, measured above the average water level, with our highest tides being up to 2.3' above that average water level. King tides in Sarasota, such as the one that coincided with Hurricane Idalia, can be around 2.8' (6 inches more than what is normally a very high tide). Apparently that extra six inches of water during a king tide event, when combined with three-or-so feet of storm surge on the dirty side of a hurricane, can lead to flooding on St. Armands. Click here for a website that forecasts future tide heights. The NOAA has published this webpage with an interactive graphic and other information about stormwater inundation and how tides, storm surge, and other factors combine to cause coastal flooding. |
Role of St. Armands Circle ParkIn this historical photo of St. Armands Circle (circa 1950s?), you can see that the Circle Park has always been open land. Per this May 2022 report by City Staff, the Circle Park serves an important stormwater management role. |