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Sarasota Bradenton Airport closed due to damage from Hurricane Milton

Vaseline October 10, 2024

Sarasota Bradenton International Airport suffered severe roof damage when Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota early Thursday morning.

Airport officials were already busy Thursday morning repairing two parts of the roof of the main concourse.

Airport CEO and President Rick Piccolo gave a brief tour of the damage around 11 a.m. Thursday after his initial assessments with airport staff at daybreak. Despite the two areas of damage, Piccolo says the terminal will be repaired before the end of the week and expects the airport to be operational and flights to resume on Saturday afternoon.

“We lost the roof of two parts of the main concourse, with water damage underneath as well. A number of private aircraft hangars were also badly damaged. We also had the usual debris from trees,” he said.

The airport suspended flights and travel ahead of Hurricane Milton on Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. Tampa International closed earlier that same day.

An SRQ anemometer clocked sustained winds of 100 mph at around 2 a.m., Piccolo recalled. He spent the night at the airport and said Hurricane Milton’s second wall had the most impact on the roof and caused the second part of the damage above the concourse.

Samantha Gholar covers social justice for USA Today Network-Florida. Connect with her on X (Twitter) @samanthagholar or by email at [email protected].