Sarasota County is ready if Tropical Storm Eta roars back

SARASOTA – A local state of emergency document has been drafted for Sarasota County, but emergency management officials are hopeful they won’t need it.

Tropical Storm Eta reformed in the Caribbean after making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Nicaragua last Tuesday.

The system made landfall in the Florida Keys and posed a serious threat across South Florida, which was already drenched from more than 14 inches of rain last month, the Associated Press reports. Eta could dump an additional 6 to 12 inches, forecasters said.

Eta is the first landfalling tropical storm in Florida in November since Mitch in 1998, according to Colorado State University hurricane researcher Philip Klotzbach. The last hurricane to make landfall in Florida in November was Kate in 1985.