Manatee County releases updated storm surge evacuation levels

Mark Stukey, owner of Ray’s Canoe Hideaway, runs his business from the banks of the Manatee River. He lives there, too.

With the start of hurricane season coming June 1, the Manatee County Public Safety Department is asking residents to know their storm surge level.

While East County’s Stukey didn’t know the county rated his residence and business a “Level A,” he does understand he is in the highest-threat area for storm surge.

He has lived through it before.

Stukey keeps a small, black photo album in his canoe rental office that bears the name, “Flood.”

“In 2003, everything in here (the office) was floating,” Stukey said. “Five days of nonstop rain — it never stopped.”

Surely, Stukey was experiencing the effects of a storm surge — when water is pushed on shore as a result of a strong storm — but what put his property completely under water was not the storm itself, but rather a “malfunction” with the Lake Manatee Dam, Stukey said.

“The guys up at the dam got an order to raise the south gate to let out some of the water,” Stukey said. “Then, all three of the gates unexpectedly opened and water began spilling out at the rate of 14,400 cubic feet per second — not per minute, per second.”

Stukey began flipping through the photos in his album where he saw a photo of his wife, Laura Stukey, smiling as she paddled around their property.

“Me and the guys up there at the dam are on a first name basis now,” Stukey said. “Especially after that little episode.”

Last week, the Manatee County Public Safety Department released updated storm surge evacuation maps to the public for the first time in five years. 

The evacuation maps shows areas that might be affected as a result of a storm surge. The colors on the map correspond with areas in Manatee County that are likely to be evacuation zones based on the areas’ height above sea level.

Five levels are displayed on the maps, Levels A through E, with Level A being areas most likely to see an evacuation during a storm.

Manatee County’s Public Safety Department encourages residents to know if they are living an evacuation area.

“We do not update evacuation levels every year, so that is why it’s really important to look at the levels this year, because it may have changed since the last time they were updated five years ago,” said Sherilyn Burris, Manatee County’s Emergency Management chief.

Despite being in a Level A area, Stukey said he has no plans of leaving his waterfront property at 1289 Hagle Park Road, just off Upper Manatee River Road.

“We feel pretty safe up here,” he said.