MANATEE COUNTY, FL (October 8, 2024) – In the final hours before anticipated landfall, Manatee County continues to prepare for the most unwelcome arrival of Hurricane Milton.
The major hurricane continues to steam toward the county’s coast, with a storm track bulls-eye painted over the world-renowned beaches of Anna Maria Island, residents and visitors are heeding the warnings to evacuate.
Once Manatee County Utilities crews shut off the water service to the barrier island communities this morning, hundreds flocked to the nine opened evacuation shelters. By mid-day, more than 2,500 folks have registered to stay the night. Here is a list of those open locations:
- Virgil Mills Elementary School (7200 69th St. E., Palmetto)
- Buffalo Creek Middle School (7320 69th St. E., Palmetto)
- Jessie P. Miller Elementary School (601 43rd St. W., Bradenton)
- Myakka Elementary School (37205 Manatee Ave., Myakka City)
- W D Sugg Middle School (5602 38th Ave. W., Bradenton)
- Barbara A. Harvey Elementary School (8610 115th Ave. E., Parrish)
- B D Gullett Elementary School (12125 44th Ave. E., Bradenton)
- Gilbert W McNeal Elementary School (6325 Lorraine Rd., Lakewood Ranch)
- Dr. Mona Jain Middle School (12205 44th Ave. E., Bradenton)
As of 6 p.m., an additional shelter location was opened:
Robert H. Prine Elementary (3801 Southern Pkwy. W., Bradenton)
More shelters will be opened as the demand increases.
In a massive effort to clear remaining debris across the county, haulers have removed more than 10 million pound of debris from Manatee County rights-of-way in advance of the storm. The work to remove any remaining debris will continue as long as it is safe to do so early Wednesday.
Manatee 3-1-1 has been busy as well, fielding more than 5,000 calls over the past two days, with folks inquiring about everything from sandbag locations, to shelter availability and the very latest on evacuation orders. The information number remains staffed round-the-clock to help residents and visitors with any information on Milton.
Citizens are encouraged to wrap up their final preparations now, move to a secure location and prepare to shelter in place to ride out the storm. It’s going to be a long wait for this system to pass us by late Thursday.
Please continue to monitor local news and weather broadcasts as well as the County's social media accounts for updates. Official storm information from Manatee County at is always updated at
mymanatee.org/storm.