BRADENTON BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The start of Florida's snowbird season is just weeks away, but many of Florida's Gulf Coast beaches regularly voted among the best in the United States have been shut down because of the devastation closed to the public due to Hurricane Milton two weeks ago.
Most restaurants and shops in Sarasota's tony St. Armands Circle district were flooded with water from Milton and Hurricane Helene, which tore through Florida nearly two weeks before Milton. Sarasota's dominant performing arts venue is closed until January due to extensive damage. Mountains of debris litter the Gulf Coast roads.
Hurricane Milton's devastating toll along Florida's Gulf Coast hit one of the most popular areas for snowbirds — temporary residents who spend the winter months in the Sunshine State — just before the start of the season, which typically runs from after Halloween until around Easter. Milton made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on a barrier island in Sarasota County. The storm swamped coastal homes with piles of sand, pushed water inland and caused tens of billions of dollars in privately insured losses along the Gulf Coast.
Visitors should stay away for now so they don't interfere with the work of residents and recovery workers, said Larry West, a construction contractor who has been working long hours excavating 4-foot storm surge barriers. drifted sand at an apartment complex on Manasota Key, about 32 miles (19.8 kilometers) south of Sarasota.
“Give this area time. Don't come here,” West said. “It doesn't help if you get in people's way.”
Other Florida residents on the Gulf Coast have taken the opposite view. In Clearwater, more than 21 miles (34.1 kilometers) north of Sarasota, Mayor Bruce Rector said he has fielded calls from as far away as Canada, asking: “Mayor, when will it be safe for Canadians to return to Clearwater?”
“I told them, 'Today,'” Rector said at a recent meeting of the Pinellas County Tourist Development Council. “It won't be perfect, but you will have a similar experience to what you've always had here.”
Shawn Kaleta, one of the largest property owners on Anna Maria Island, about 20 miles north of Sarasota, is also optimistic about this season as reservations for the rental properties he manages are up from last year.
Florida, a state of 23 million people, has about 1.5 million seasonal residents annually, about a third of whom come from Canada.
Evan Rachkovsky, communications director for the Canadian Snowbird Association, said he has not heard of members canceling plans, even those whose homes were damaged, although some are postponing trips until the situation improves.
“Most of our members will still move south as planned,” Rachkovsky said.
Some snowbirds have already made their annual trek south despite the latest storms, returning to their pickleball groups and tennis leagues even as some of their neighbors' apartments remain unlivable.
Due to Sarasota's fame as a thriving performing arts scene, a significant portion of snowbirds are performing arts enthusiasts. Milton caused extensive damage to the Van Wezel performing arts venue, which hosts the Sarasota Orchestra and Sarasota Ballet, and all performances were canceled until the start of the new year.
In recent years, many snowbirds have postponed coming to Florida, choosing to return after the hurricane season ends in late November. As a result, some performing arts groups are moving the start of their seasons to later in the year, said Richard Russell, general manager of the Sarasota Opera, where about 40% of season subscribers are snowbirds.
“If people put off coming back for a few years because of the late October storm activity, that could be the new pattern,” Russell said.
Vacation home owners outside Florida see opportunity in the Gulf Coast's adversity. Gary Sacks advertised his two-bedroom condo in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on the Facebook page “Florida Snowbirds 2025” less than a week after Milton made landfall, targeting those “whose plans to own a snowbird were affected by the two hurricanes hitting Florida.” He did not respond to a request for an interview.
Jim Lenz, 96, who lives outside Dayton, Ohio and spends the winter months at The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in central Florida, believes the storms could interrupt the winter plans of some snowbirds, “especially people who are older and may decide, 'who I don't want to take that chance anymore.'”
“Some may give up. Others may decide, “We just can't stand the cold here and we're going down,” Lenz said.
Some snowbirds like Joe Singer say the growing number and intensity of storms won't keep them away. Singer, who has spent the past five winters in Parkland, Florida, instead of his native New Jersey, said he and other snowbirds are adapting by buying homes further inland or on higher ground and purchasing generators.
The winter months are “like a mini heaven,” says Singer, who is an avid hiker. “I get up in the morning and go for a walk. I don't have to scrape ice off my windshield. I don't have to clean the sidewalk. It was just really, really fun.”
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