Holmes Beach police hope residents will heed warnings

ANNA MARIA ISLAND (FOX 13) - You won't find many dry streets on Anna Maria Island. Flooding has been a concern since Wednesday.

Many islanders seem to be going with the flow, but police want everyone to pay close attention.

The rain let up for a while Thursday, but in Holmes Beach on Anna Maria Island, many areas still have a ton of standing water.

Just about everyone says it's part of island life, but the police chief wants to make sure everyone still stays safe.

Cory Bankes and his family wanted an up-close view. They watched from Bradenton beach as the waves came in.

“We are watching the storm and it's pretty cool," Bankes said. "I think we are very lucky we didn't get a direct hit on it. It could have been a lot worse."

A few minutes down the road at the sandpiper mobile home park, it appeared to be worse. The water was nearly knee-deep.

"My neighbor says there is nothing to worry about. It will go down," Jim Grubb told FOX 13 News.

He lives in the park, but few of his neighbors have seen flooding like this before.

“This is the worst I have ever seen, the flooding anyways. It's never come up on my deck," he said.

Neighbor Richard Davis was confident it wouldn't make it inside his home.

“ We have high tide and that makes it worse, anyways," he said.

The island lifestyle seems to be one of no worries, but that’s not always the best mindset says chief William Tokajer

"Definitely does do a wakeup call to the citizens,” he said. “We truly haven't had a real hurricane type storm that has hit this area in many many years. We know we have been blessed and god is watching out for us, we just hope that continues."

The chief says he and his officers will be monitoring conditions all night and into Friday. He asks anyone who wants to come out and take a look to just stay home and monitor condition on Facebook or Twitter. You can find the Holmes Beach Police Department on both.