Isaac: The storm that wasn’t

Terry Sanders and John White put up the storm shutters on Hudson’s, and they stayed up until they re-opened on Tuesday. For more photos see page 19.

There was a lot of island preparation in the hours preceding the storm’s landfall, but the majority of it included hurricane party plans. While some stores downtown did board up, and almost no businesses were open on Sunday or Monday, many people didn’t appear to be too worried about the impending high winds and rain that were announced on television.

The worst weather on the island occurred Sunday night after midnight and on Monday, with high winds, some rain and surf. By Monday morning, though, the sun was making its appearance through the clouds at times, and random bursts of rainshowers brought rainbows and cooler temperatures.

Boca Grande ended up getting around three inches of rain from the storm. The highest wind gust was approximately 45 m.p.h.

Prior to the storm’s arrival, the local Emergency Operations Center, located in the Boca Grande Fire Department, was the scene of a brief meeting Sunday morning at 11 a.m. Chief C.W. Blosser summed up the feelings of many when he explained that while no drastic measures were being taken in light of Isaac’s swing to the west, it was better to be safe than sorry.

“I always tell people that Charley is still going to hit Tampa, too,” he said at the meeting. He was referring to the fact that at the last second, on August 13, 2004, the Category 4 storm barreled through Charlotte Harbor by way of Boca Grande Pass, instead of its predicted path to Tampa.

During the storm the fire department had only a small number of calls. On Pilot Street there was one fire in some trees due to power lines, and there was a similar call on Belcher Road with no fire. They also responded to a false alarm at a residence.

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