St. Armands

Residents Association

2024 Invest 90L Flooding

In meteorology, an "invest" is a weather system that the National Hurricane Center (NHC) is monitoring for the potential of tropical cyclone development within the next two to seven days. The term is short for "investigative area" or "investigation".  In June 2024, Invest 90L formed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Sarasota.

June 11, 2024

Herald-Tribune article:  Tropical system Invest 90L to impact Sarasota-Manatee, bringing heavy rain

Per this Tuesday morning, 8:52am article: 

There is "the potential of up to 8-12 inches of rain over the next 24 hours for portions of SW Florida," according to the latest National Weather Service forecast.

But we are unaware of any warning being issued the rest of the day.  Apparently it was a beautiful beach day until the rains started later in the afternoon...

June 11, 2024

Notes from SARA President:

  • At 6:05pm, I received the first report from a St. Armands resident that there was bad flooding and that they had already contacted the County Stormwater Operations Manager.

  • At 6:21pm, I texted the County Stormwater Operations Manager and County Director of Public Works and received the following response 5 minutes later: 

"I was just there, the pumps can’t handle the flow. I had two pumps on and it was overtaken. We have had 7 inches of rain in Three hours. All the roads are flooded coming on to and leaving. There is nothing to fix. Every thing is operational."

  • At 6:31pm, I spoke with Rachel Burns of the St. Armands Merchants Association who told me that flood water was coming up over the sidewalks in front of the Circle businesses. My recollection is that Rachel had learned that SPD was calling in an additional 15 officers to do traffic control

  • At 6:35pm, the County Director of Public Works sent an email to various County and City staff saying: 

"We are currently experiencing a very high intensity rainfall event in the Sarasota 'proper' area. There are reports of localized road flooding in several areas. The intensity of rainfall is overwhelming the drainage system beyond what it is designed to handle. Residents and drivers should be extremely cautious of ponding water and turn around to find other routes rather than driving into an unknown depth of water. Once the rain cell passes, we expect water levels to recede quickly but, until then, impacts to flood prone areas will persist."

  • At 7:22pm, a resident reported that "I’m 1 inch away from house flood"; One hour later they reported that "House is flooded rain is stopped no evidence pumps are working no change in water level"
  • Time uncertain: A resident later reported that: 

"I sat on my front porch and watched car after car create gigantic waves. For a very limited period of time an officer sat at the intersection of Boulevard of President and Madison Drive and yelled at people over a bullhorn. This was maybe for five or six cars and then he left. And then the horrible driving ensued with gigantic waves crashing into peoples businesses and houses. Until the roads are completely dry, they should keep officers at all the intersections of the circle to prohibit that kind of driving. People seem to think this is fun and games and enjoy creating these waves. It’s not fun and games for the business and property owners"

  • At 8:09pm, I sent out a SARA Email Bulletin with what I knew thus far
  • At 8:17pm, Deputy City Manager Pat Robinson responded that: 

"Thanks Chris. Have been receiving the same info. We have called in both our ERT unit and Traffic Units to assist. The weather pattern looks like it will be similar though the weekend."

  • At 8:34pm, a resident wrote: 

"The rain has slowed down immensely, but check out this mess. The firetruck went down the street and the car down further started bobbing in the water."

  • At 8:40pm, a resident wrote: 

"We even have flooding on the SE Quadrant which rarely happens! My car was parked in the street and the water was up to the door"

  • At 8:59pm, a resident wrote: 

"The island is shut down. People are sitting on the roads coming and going and they’re just stuck."

  • At 9:01pm, a resident wrote: 

"With the amount of taxes we pay I sure hope they plan to put in either a bigger pump or a few more!"

  • At 9:04pm, a resident described the traffic coming toward St. Armands from Longboat Key: 

"Some of the SUVs are pushing through, but there’s a line of cars backed up on the side of my house."

  • At 9:05pm, after receiving numerous inquiries, photos, and videos from St. Armands residents, I followed up with the County Stormwater Operations Manager to say that "I’m hearing that the rain has let up, but that the water level is not receding." He immediately replied that he was stuck in traffic trying to get back out to St. Armands.
  • At 9:07pm, I received a video from someone driving through the Circle showing that the water was almost covering the outdoor tables and chairs at every restaurant. This really solidified for me that nobody knew this storm was coming (and therefore did not prepare for it) and nobody had any idea that flooding this bad could happen from a non-hurricane rain event.
  • At 10:09pm, I received a video from a resident who also said that: 

"Rain stopped an hour ago no discernible retreat of water no noise from pump station [2005]"

  • At 10:10pm, I received a follow-up email from the Deputy City Manager asking: "Any reports of blocked drains that I can have public works follow up on? Hearing from some areas that there is debris that might have covered drains, unsubstantiated but reported." I have since received photos of the debris left by the flooding. In my estimation, blocked storm drains did not cause the flooding, but the flooding moved the debris to the storm drains which may have exasperated the flooding. Based on the photos I've seen, I'm not sure if wood mulch is a good idea on St. Armands.
  • Time uncertain: a resident on N Blvd of Presidents wrote: 

"The pump on N Blvd had no lights and no vibration both of which I would suspect are indicators [of the pump not being on]"

  • At 2:29am this [next] morning, the County Stormwater Operations Manager texted that: 

"It appears the pumps are running and it just was inundated with flow. It’s actually draining now. I brought my emergency pump out but didn’t need it. All the stations are pumping. everything pretty much is down except right by the church and right at [Pump Station] 2005 it should be dry by five ish [am]. I’m going home now should be. Staff will be up first thing in the morning to clean the gates."

June 11, 2024

ABC7 weather report/video:  FIRST ALERT: Rain to continue through Friday

June 12, 2024

Today, 9:48am: a resident who spoke with on-site County staff reported:

"County guys saying pumps were clogged with debris preventing the water flowing into drains".


The County Stormwater Operations Manager later responded:

"There was nothing clogged. The pumps couldn’t handle the flow that came down. I don’t know who told you that but they’re mistaken. I was out there till three in the morning. All the pumps were running. We did have to keep the gates clear as the roads were draining due to all the mulch and debris."

June 12, 2024

NBC8 weather report/video:  Sarasota sets record for most rainfall in 1 hour

Per this report:

It’s not very often that 8″+ of rain falls in 3 hours in the Tampa Bay area, but that happened early Tuesday evening just south of Sarasota. That is considered the type of event which should only occur statistically once every 500 to 1,000 years.

June 12, 2024

Social media post with rainfall totals:


June 12, 2024

Many people sent in photos and videos of the flooding, and four themes emerged:

Theme #1:  Vehicles allowed to drive through high flood waters create waves of water and debris that can be damaging to houses and businesses.



Theme #2:  During flood events, wood mulch can clog storm drains and pumps, and create a nuisance that has to be cleaned up.


Theme #3:  Our residential streets and sidewalks were completely submerged.





Theme #4:  St. Armands businesses got hit really hard too.


June 12, 2024

June 13, 2024

City of Sarasota Press Release:  City of Sarasota declares local state of emergency for Invest 90L

We believe this means that the City can spend unbudgeted funds on clean-up and restoration without going through the standard budget amendment process.

From the city mayor:

What happens is that we spend the money in an emergency, but the local emergency declaration helps the City get reimbursed for the funds. We generally add the budget amendment after the fact to approve since it, obviously, would not be practical to do it in advance.

June 13, 2024

Sarasota County Press Release:  DOH-Sarasota Issues Water Quality Health Advisory (Advisory Issued for Bird Key Park/ Ringling Bridge Causeway)

June 14, 2024

Herald-Tribune article:  Historic rainstorm poses first storm management test of the year to Sarasota

From the article:

St. Armands in particular is prone to flooding because of its bowl shape, Anderson said — which means the sea walls are higher than the streets and effectively trap water on the key. The county recently invested more than $1 million to improve the drainage pump stations on St. Armands and address the issues that the unique landscape could spur.  “Most areas, it’ll eventually run off into some lower-lying area,” Anderson said. “In St. Armands’ case, the lower-lying area is the streets.”

June 14, 2024

From the Sarasota County weekly email newsletter:


June 20, 2024

County Declaration of Extended State of Emergency:  click here

June 28, 2024

City news bulletin:  (link)

The record setting deluge we experienced a couple of weeks ago associated with Invest 90L resulted in 8+ inches of rain in just three hours, leaving parts of the city temporarily flooded. The stormwater system simply could not keep pace with the massive amount of rainfall. Through an inter-local agreement, Sarasota County oversees and maintains the stormwater system for the City of Sarasota. The administration has been in communication with County staff about the street flooding and possible actions that can be taken to mitigate a repeat occurrence. Again, this volume of rainfall has never been experienced in Sarasota.

July 17, 2024

Email from Sarasota County Public Works Director to City Manager about the improvements completed over the last two years:

  1. Replaced five lift station panels
  2. Installed four emergency pump-out connections
  3. Replaced ductile iron pipeline and valves on station 2005 (S. Washington Cir)
  4. Replaced one thousand feet of power line hit by a directional drill to 7010
  5. Replaced seven of the ten pumps on the circle. The three we didn’t replace were only five years old and are in good condition.
  6. We had two of the seven pumps rebuilt for backups if needed.


St. Armands Residents Association

P.O. Box 2482, Sarasota, FL  34230

e-mail us at: st.armands.residents.assn@gmail.com

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