BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The start of Florida’s snowbird season is only weeks away, but many of Florida’s Gulf Coast beaches, consistently voted among the best in the United States, are closed to the public due to the devastation. from Hurricane Milton two weeks ago.
Most restaurants and stores in Sarasota’s tony St. Armands Circle neighborhood were flooded by water from Milton and Hurricane Helene, which ravaged Florida nearly two weeks before Milton. Sarasota’s premier performing arts venue is closed until January due to extensive damage. Mounds of debris are scattered along Gulf Coast roads.
Hurricane Milton’s devastating toll along Florida’s Gulf Coast hit one of the most popular areas for snowbirds — temporary residents who spend the winter months in the Sunshine State — just before it began of the season which generally extends from after Halloween until around Easter. Milton made landfall on a barrier island in Sarasota County as a Category 3 hurricane. The storm flooded coastal homes with mounds of sand, pushed water inland and caused tens of billions of dollars in privately insured losses along the Gulf Coast.
Visitors should stay away for now so as not to interfere with the work of residents and salvage workers, said Larry West, a construction contractor who spent long hours digging out 4-foot snowdrifts ( 1.2 meters) of storm. sand washed into a condo complex on Manasota Key, about 32 miles (19.8 kilometers) south of Sarasota.
“Give this area some time. Don’t come here,” West said. “It doesn’t help when people get in your way.”
Other Gulf Coast Floridians take the opposite view. In Clearwater, more than 21 miles (34.1 kilometers) north of Sarasota, Mayor Bruce Rector said he has received calls from as far away as Canada, asking: “Mayor, when can Canadians return to Clearwater safely?
“I told them, ‘Today,'” the rector said at a recent meeting of the Pinellas County Tourism Development Council. “It won’t be perfect, but you’ll have an experience similar to what you’ve always had here.”
Shawn Kaleta, one of the largest real estate owners on Anna Maria Island, about 20 miles north of Sarasota, also feels optimistic about this season because bookings at the rental properties he manages tend to increase compared to last year.
Florida, a state of 23 million people, has about 1.5 million seasonal residents per year, about a third of whom come from Canada.
Evan Rachkovsky, communications director for the Canadian Snowbird Association, said he hasn’t heard of any members canceling their plans, even those whose homes were damaged, although some are delaying their trips until the situation is improving.
“Most of our members will continue to head south as planned,” Rachkovsky said.
Some snowbirds have already made their annual migration south despite the latest storms, returning to their pickleball groups and tennis leagues even as some of their neighbors’ condos remain uninhabitable.
Due to Sarasota’s fame for its thriving arts scene, a large portion of its snowbirds are patrons of the performing arts. Milton caused significant damage to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, home to the Sarasota Orchestra and Sarasota Ballet, and all performances were canceled until the start of the new year.
In recent years, many snowbirds have delayed their arrival in Florida, choosing to return after hurricane season ends in late November. As a result, some performing arts groups are pushing back the start of their seasons until later in the year, said Richard Russell, general director of Sarasota Opera, where about 40 percent of season subscribers are snowbirds.
“If people delay coming back for a few years because of storm activity in late October, that could be the new trend,” Russell said.
Vacation home owners outside of Florida see opportunity in the Gulf Coast’s woes. Gary Sacks advertised his two-bedroom condo in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on the “Florida Snowbirds 2025” Facebook page less than a week after Milton’s arrival, targeting those “whose plans to become a snowbird were affected by the two hurricanes that struck. hit Florida. He did not respond to an interview request.
Jim Lenz, 96, who lives outside Dayton, Ohio, and spends the winter months at The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in central Florida, believes the storms could pause the winter plans of some snowbirds, “especially people who are older and might decide, ‘I don’t want to take that risk anymore.’
“Some might give it up. Others may decide, ‘We just can’t stand the cold here and we’re going to move down,'” Lenz said.
Some snowbirds, like Joe Singer, say the increasing number and intensity of storms won’t keep them away. Singer, who has spent the past five winters in Parkland, Fla., instead of his native New Jersey, said he and other snowbirds are adapting by buying homes further inland or on land higher and by acquiring generators.
The winter months are “like a mini-heaven,” said Singer, an avid walker. “I get up in the morning and go for a walk. I don’t need to scrape ice off my windshield. I don’t need to shovel the sidewalk. It was just very, very nice.
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