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'We had 45 years of good luck:' Coastal Sarasota County faces impacts of back-to-back hurricanes

By
Updated  October 8, 2024 6:19pm EDT
Hurricane Milton
FOX 13 News

Coastal Sarasota County faces impacts of back-to-back hurricanes

FOX 13's Kim Kuizon reports.

SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. - Residents of coastal Sarasota County are dealing with back-to-back hurricanes.

Fred Schuh and his wife built a home of love on Siesta Key. 

Raising their kids and building a life and memories that Hurricane Helene tried to wash away. 

Now Hurricane Milton comes on the horizon. 

"This tree may fall and squish the house. So there may be nothing, or it just may. I think best case scenario 5-6-8-feet of water inside again. We only had three the last time, but I expect with the surge and waves for it to be higher," said Schuh. 

The process of recovery is on hold. 

Instead, Fred grabbed a few personal belongings and secured what is left of his home of more than 40 years for the second time in two weeks. 

"What are you going to do? It’s nature. We have had 45 plus years of good luck. I would never of thought it would go away in two weeks after all that time, but that’s just the way it goes," he said. 

READ: Hurricane Milton tracker: 'Extremely dangerous' storm taking aim at Florida's Gulf coast

Further south in Venice, Police Chief Charlie Thorpe told residents to prepare now. 

"This is going to be a significant, significant storm. I’ve told people many times in many meetings. We were hit by Ian, not hammered. This will be a hammer I feel like in this circumstances," said Chief Thorpe. 

Thorpe worries that some may not take the warnings seriously. 

During Helene, two weeks ago, his officers were called to rescue people who didn’t evacuate, but should have. 

"I’m really concerned that some people who are in mobile home parks that may have felt like, hey, we got through Ian that won’t be the same in my mind in this case. Especially close to the storm surge," he said. 

For now, it’s wait and see. 

A countdown to whatever Milton will bring. 

"It really is now that circumstance where you’ve got this wait time, and we are overtalking the situation. We just need the storm to come through and see what we’ve got to deal with," said Thorpe.

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