- October 14, 2024
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While spending the night in his third-floor office at Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, President and CEO Rick Piccolo could only hear the havoc wrought by Hurricane Milton outside his windows.
As the membrane roof was ripped from atop Concourse B from the passenger screening area to Gate 14, debris was strewn about the tarmac, slamming against skylights above the passenger terminal and filling the well of the air conditioning system chillers.
Across the airfield, the door of one general aviation hangar was peeling back, ending up on the roof while another hangar was collapsing. Directly across from the terminal, Fixed-base operator Atlantic Aviation was taking the biggest hit to its network of hangars.
It wasn’t until the relative calm of daylight just hours after Milton’s eye passed over the airport that the extent of the damage was revealed, which Piccolo estimated could run beyond $7 million in the commercial passenger terminal alone.
“The eye went right over us,” Piccolo said. “At that point the area of roof over the security checkpoint was gone and we thought that it’s a small area of about 12,000 square feet.”
So far, not so bad, hopefully. Then came the what followed the back side of the eye wall.
“That other side of the eye came through and just blew off the rest of the roof. Stuff was flying everywhere. You could look out the window and see all these pieces flying and you could hear all this banging.”
The morning brought the realization that the entire passenger concourse was damaged. All equipment had been covered and remained intact as airport personnel began the water removal and cleaning process, but the damage was too great.
Piccolo spoke with an airport director colleague who recommended Target Solutions, a remediation company based in Waco, Texas with operations in Tampa. Within hours, crews began to arrive, swelling to some 150 workers strong, and work began to reopen the airport as soon as possible. Piccolo had hoped that would be last Sunday, each day closed representing a loss of nearly $150,000 in revenue.
After a complete assessment of the damage, It was decided the first flight would land at a reopened SRQ at around 9 a.m. Wednesday.
“People were asking why we were taking so long to reopen because all the other airports around were opening sooner,” Piccolo said. “They just didn’t understand the extent of the damage.”
By Monday afternoon, crews were busy installing the temporary roof covering, which will be replaced by a new permanent membrane roof, one section at a time. Beneath the roof, the concourse has been dried out and cleaning of the flooring and eventual replacement of ceiling tiles remains. By Wednesday, gate computers will be uncovered and restarted, and seating returned to its proper location.
Safety screening equipment was also covered and protected, but areas of sheetrock have been removed and will be replaced. On the other side of the plastic sheeting separating the security screening from the terminal, all appears normal, the new roof on that section installed following Hurricane Ian successfully holding back the elements.
Restoring the airport will be costly, in addition to the loss of more than $1 million in revenue while closed.
“Not counting the hangars, you're looking at $7 million out the door before we even get to that,” Piccolo said. “We have insurance, but the problem is there is a 5% deductible based on the value of the building. We insured this for $150 million, so the deductible is more than that.”
SRQ can apply for FEMA reimbursement, which it will do, but that can take years to receive. For example, the airport was approved for a $1.3 million reimbursement from FEMA for the post-Ian roof replacement, which has yet to arrive.
“That's $7 million we’ve got to float for a couple of years,” Piccolo said. “We have a line of credit, and if we have to that's what we're going to do. But the first priority was getting this place safe and open again, and that's what we've been concentrating on, and all the other stuff we'll worry about it when we when we get done with this.”
