Swollen Sand Branch Creek batters east Bradenton residents

Jason Thurber said it’s going to take two things to recover from Hurricane Debby: money and patience. 

Thurber and his wife, Summer Thurber, are facing massive bills after stormwater turned Sand Branch Creek into a raging river down the middle of their 10-acre property off Waterline Road. 

“When the water got so powerful, it dug the creek (bed) out,” Jason Thurber said. “The creek (bed) went from being around 3 feet deep with a foot of water to being 6 feet deep.” 

By the morning of Aug. 5, the surge had torn through a potable water pipe and two bridges on Thurber's property, had collapsed the family's driveway and had left the property littered with sinkholes. 

The family was safe, but the two bridges that collapsed basically divided their property and left them somewhat stranded. The driveway crosses one of the bridges. While the family could wade through the water, all four of their cars were stuck with no way over the creek until an excavator could fix the bridge collapse.

The Thurbers have two sons, Jaden and Keegan. Both are living at home while attending the State College of Florida.

The Thurbers said next time a major storm is headed to the area, they will move their cars so they can access Waterline Road.

The driveway was navigable by Aug. 8, but Jason Thurber said it cost over $10,000 just to put a “bandaid” on it.

The estimate to fix the entirety of the damage is between $125,000 and $150,000. He said it’s unlikely their insurance or FEMA will cover the costs.

Jason Thurber is first looking to Manatee County to share responsibility for the creek that runs through his property. 

Courtesy image

When the Thurbers first moved into the home eight years ago, Jason Thurber asked if county staff maintained the creek because the family just moved from Myakka where Manatee County maintained sloughs on their property. 

In this case, he said county staff members told him that because the creek doesn’t connect two bodies of water, the county wouldn’t maintain what flows through his 10 acres. 

Out of frustration, not actual intent, Jason Thurber said he told the county's staff that he would fill the creek, to which they told him that it wasn’t his creek to fill. 

Jason Thurber took on the cost of maintaining the 1,400 feet of the creek on his property. The creek itself is 1.7 miles long and runs from its origin, a swamp area just off State Road 64 to its mouth at the Manatee River.

Thurber pays to have the sides of the creek bed weed whacked a few times a year. Once a year, he pays an excavator $2.000 to do maintenance work. 

Now he’s dealing with something beyond what he said one property owner should have to maintain. 

Before the storm, the Thurbers thought they would stay on their property another 15 years. Now, the couple thinks about staying a few years less because it might not be so easy to maintain as they age.

Commissioner Mike Rahn said the county maintains Sand Branch Creek, but can’t go on the Thurbers’ property without an easement. 

“We went beyond a 100-year storm (in Hurricane Debby). We’ve never experienced this before,” Rahn said. “We’ve got Public Works going out there to see what needs to be done to fix their property, to fix the creek and see how it’s going to flow in the future.” 

The prior homeowner was in the concrete business, so the sides of the creek were shored up with concrete. The surge was so powerful that it blew out both sides along the entire 1,400-foot span.

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

What’s even more concerning to Summer Thurber are the sinkholes the water left behind. She got teary-eyed talking about the work her husband will have to put into repairing the damages, but she also worries about her horses. 

Summer Thurber takes retired thoroughbreds and trains them for new jobs or just gives them a place to retire. Their 16 horses made it through the storm safely, but pink marks dotting their hooves reveal the aftereffects of standing in water for hours on end. 

The ground is so soft at the back of the property that Summer Thurber fears more of the ground will cave in and the horses could be injured. 

She used to let them out as one big herd. Now, the horses graze in shifts because each one weighs about 1,200 pounds, and horses tend to stand together. 

The Thurbers have accepted that regardless of who pays for the repairs, they won’t be completed anytime soon, so the couple will continue to play it safe for now. 

“We’re not going to repave the driveway because I’m not doing that until I know things are going to stay intact,” Jason Thurber said. “If we get another storm like this in two weeks, what was done will wash away again."