Doged by a Bullet

Shops along Beach Boulevard in Gulfport prepared for the worst on Tuesday, July 6.

Elsa’s Bark Worse Than Her Bite for the Bay Area

By Abby Baker

For most Pinellas County residents, Tropical Storm Elsa was nothing more than noise in the night.

At around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, July 7, Elsa’s winds remained at a sustained 70 mph and she was downgraded once again to a tropical storm as she moved over the Bay area.

The result? Mostly large puddles.

“We did not see any major impacts to the city other than some localized flooding,” Gulfport’s Cultural Facilities Director Justin Shea said.

Shea stayed up the entirety of Wednesday night, and was more than a little relieved with the outcome.

“We really dodged a bullet here, but we did take full precautions,” Shea said.

According to Shea, the City of Gulfport did see some overnight power outages, with the highest number at any given time being 137, including Gulfport’s City Hall.

Beaches Get ‘Lucky’

“It seems the timing of the bands of wind gusts and high tides were to our advantage, and we had minimal flooding potential,” Madeira Beach City Manager Bob Daniels wrote in an email Wednesday morning. “We are lucky! Now we will get the streets clean, check our stormwater inlets, and get back to work.”

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office limited access to the barrier island communities on Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of Elsa, but by 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, opened the beaches for regular traffic.

“Pinellas County was fortunate to have not experienced more severe weather as forecasted,” the PCSO wrote in a release Wednesday morning. According to the release, no injuries from the storm had been reported.

Businesses Unscathed

Gulfport’s businesses did not forget the storm surge and flooding damage from last year’s Eta, and the city dispersed over 7,500 sandbags from Sunday to Tuesday – many of which could be seen at the doors of shopfronts on Tuesday.

Stella’s owner Barbara Banno checked the popular diner at 2914 Beach Blvd S. early Wednesday morning to assess the situation.

“Thankfully, everything was fine,” Banno reported. “We didn’t lose power.”

Anita McLaughlin, the owner of Funky Flamingo on 1418 58th St. S.,

With Funky Flamingo at 1418 58th St. S. deemed a safe spot in the storm, owner Anita McLaughlin housed one of her employees overnight at the deli.

“We were very lucky,” McLaughlin said. “Nothing happened aside from a lot of wind.”