![]() Hotels from North Port to Sarasota were full and restaurants and shops shuttered. National Guardsmen were stationed along the detour where few streetlights were working. ![]() “Don’t stay here,” a man warned a car of women. Though there was no power, cars were parked at every pump preparing to wait out the night. At one Wawa store, there was a men’s and women’s line to urinate behind the dumpster. Those who got off the interstate found as much chaos on U.S. In the nine-mile stretch between Port Charlotte and Toledo Blade Road drivers pulled U-turns in the median. Police were trying to divert everyone off the interstate. A woman in the SUV next to him told him water was rising in the Myakka River ahead of them. Cell service was spotty meaning drivers could not pull up GPS to look for alternative routes.Īn elderly man in a sedan rolled down his passenger window. Some abandoned their cars there with flat tires or no gas. In the right shoulder, rule-breaking motorists whizzed by. In the left shoulder, blue and red lights of emergency vehicles streaked past, sirens screaming. Around 8 p.m., the highway had become a parking lot.Ĭars crammed with belongings from people fleeing the destruction, trucks of electricians, tree-trimmers, storm mitigators. The detours helped drivers avoid congestion but inevitably there were still delays on Saturday, Williams said.Ĭonditions were worse for drivers Friday evening when they sat for hours. 98.Ī car in flood water in North Port on Friday. Northbound drivers were being told to exit at U.S. “It was all precautionary.”īy Saturday morning the state was recommending detours for those traveling south via State Road 60 in Brandon, almost 90 miles from the flooded highway. “The water never crested the road,” he said. Photos purporting to show the interstate underwater that were spread widely on social media were not of I-75 but of U.S. Waters from the flooded river did not crest the interstate but were sufficiently close to warrant its closure, said FDOT spokesperson Michael Williams. Saturday after flood waters receded but Florida Department of Transportation officials cautioned that the interstate could be closed again should water levels rise. As the region’s main north-south route, its closure also hampered relief efforts from reaching Fort Myers and other areas hit by Hurricane Ian. The result was traffic stalled for hours and panicking motorists who feared running out of fuel in an area where many gas stations are still without power. The threat of rising waters from the Myakka River led to the closure of a 14-mile stretch of I-75 in Sarasota County between mile marker 179 at Toledo Blade Boulevard in North Port to mile marker 193 at Jacaranda Boulevard in Englewood late Friday. “It’s better than sitting on my hiney at home,” McDowell said.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |