Two years ago, water rose as high as door knobs in Sarasota’s South Gate neighborhood. Rescuers in boats ferried families from the Laurel Meadows subdivision to safety. Residents of the Amish-Mennonite community of Pinecraft watched as water pushed into homes then pooled there for days.
Following the floods caused by Tropical Storm Debby, a slow boiling anger from the residents who were affected manifested at Sarasota County meetings, each featuring increasingly more livid crowds. Neighbors formed groups to protest their dismay, demanding to know what went wrong and how to prevent the next floods.
For years, county officials had touted their Stormwater Environmental Utility, a dedicated funding stream meant to maintain drainage infrastructure and protect communities from flooding. But a 2025 investigation by Suncoast Searchlight and the Florida Trident found an operation in disarray — rife with vacant positions, dodging responsibility for maintaining its largest stormwater system at Phillippi Creek and employees who were unprepared when the storm came.
County commissioners responded by splitting stormwater into its own department, hiring a new leader for the division and promising to do better…