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Tag: 2024 hurricanes

Anna Maria Post Office back home again

Anna Maria Post Office back home again

Written by Joe Hendricks on . Posted in Anna Maria, Community News.

ANNA MARIA – The Anna Maria Post Office reopened in its regular pre-hurricane location at 101B South Bay Boulevard on Oct. 6.

The leased, ground-level post office space experienced significant flood damage during the 2024 hurricanes. During the hurricane recovery efforts, a temporary post office was established across the street at City Pier Park and initially operated out of mail trucks parked beneath the shade sail structure.

Anna Maria Post Office back home again
The temporary post office at City Pier Park closed on Oct. 4. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

The postal operations were later moved into an air-conditioned trailer delivered to the park property. The temporary post office closed at the end of business on Oct. 4 and a handwritten sign taped to the door instructs post office patrons to return to the regular location.

Anna Maria Post Office back home again
This sign is taped to the door of the now-closed temporary post office at City Pier Park. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

After opening the service desk’s accordion door on Monday morning, interim Postmaster Kristen Gray said, “Hopefully this feels more normal for our Anna Maria residents. We are working diligently to get it back to 100%.”

Anna Maria Post Office back home again
On Oct. 6, interim Postmaster Kristen Gray opened the accordion door to the now-active service desk. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Within minutes, Krista Carroll was the first patron to arrive at the service desk, where she turned in her key for her temporary P.O. box across the street and exchanged it for a key to her permanent box.

“I’m so excited for you guys,” Carroll told Gray.

“Thanks, it’s been a journey,” Gray responded.

“It’s great when anything gets back to normal after the hurricanes,” Carroll said.

Anna Maria Post Office back home again
Krista Carroll, right, was greeted by interim Postmaster Kristen Gray and Clerk Jonathon Lavigne. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

Gray said P.O. box keys issued before the 2024 hurricanes should still work for the boxes inside the regular location. If your old key doesn’t work, go to the service desk and let them know. Gray asks that post-hurricane P.O. box keys issued for the temporary post office be returned to the service desk at 101B South Bay Blvd. Gray said she doesn’t yet have confirmation as to when the trailer will be removed from the park but she said its removal is already in the works.

Anna Maria Post Office back home again
The Anna Maria Post Office reopened at 101B South Bay Blvd. – Joe Hendricks | Sun

The Anna Maria Post Office service desk is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays. The lobby is open 24 hours a day and the P.O. boxes are always accessible.

Bradenton Beach resident prepared after 2024 storms

Bradenton Beach resident prepared after 2024 storms

Written by Leslie Lake on . Posted in Bradenton Beach, Community News.

BRADENTON BEACH – Thirty two-year Gulf Drive resident Lynne Budzinski did not leave her home during the 2024 hurricanes, but this year she is well-prepared to do so if necessary.

Budzinski, who has five parrots at her home, has their transport cages ready to go in the event of a future evacuation.

“Here’s something people need to think about. Evacuating for a storm is not going to visit friends for a day or two,” Budzinski said. “You go because you think you may have nothing left when you come back. If you think you won’t have anything left, you have to take what you need to get by for at least a month or so. For them (the parrots) that means the big cages.”

Bradenton Beach resident prepared after 2024 storms
Lynne Budzinski’s parrots will go with her if she evacuates for a hurricane. – Leslie Lake | Sun

She said she began getting ready in August, by constructing smaller hurricane transport cages. The larger cages will be disassembled for trans­port and then reassembled.

“So, once they go in those little cages I have to come in here and take these apart and they have to go out also, that’s a day,” Budzinski said. “I have a place in town I can go. It would be me and five birds. I can’t take the larger birds in their big cages. If a storm comes, I have to clear my van out to get the birds and their cages in there.”

“I can do an evacuation by myself,” she said. “You have four or five days max to get it all done.”

Reflections on 2024 storms

“You know how they say the sound of running water is soothing? Not when it’s going by your window,” she said.

Budzinski said water was at her door during Hurricane Helene, but never came into the house.

“There was one point about 10 o’clock I asked myself, ‘Have I made a horrible mistake by staying?’ ” she said.

“I came out the next morning, I had two cars sitting here and they both started,” she said. “Everything had this slick sort of slime. It was so slippery. It was like walking on greased glass.”

With declining water pressure, Budzinski said she spent the first day after the storm hosing her yard down.

She said the sand in the alley behind her house was about 2 feet high, and she dug a ramp to get the cars up and cleared the entry.

“Mother nature dumped a sand bar on us,” she said.

Budzinski opened an accessory apartment in her home to friends who were unable to remain in their homes.

She said her asthma symptoms became worse following the hurricanes.

“It got to where I couldn’t… it was so hard for me to walk around my house without resting,” she said. “This was due to the stress.”

Preparing for future storms

“Unless they’re predicting a direct hit, I won’t be leaving,” she said. If it’s coming up the coast, I’m not going to bother.”

She has 12 2-liter bottles filled with ice, so as they melt, they can be used as drinking water.

Her storm shutters are ready on the ground next to the building.

She is prepared for power outages.

“In that situation if your power goes out and you have a lantern, get a big piece of white paper and hold it behind it, as a reflector,” Budzinski said. “You can light an entire room off of one lantern.”