While damage from Hurricane Milton was negligible in coastal South County, this half-sunken sailboat at Sportsman's Park Marina in Lantana was affected by its winds, crashing into the sea wall there. The photo was taken Oct. 10. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Rich Pollack
With Hurricane Milton still several hours away, the small group of Briny Breezes residents who stayed home despite being urged to evacuate weren’t about to let expected tropical force winds stand in the way of the regular Wednesday afternoon social hour.
“A bunch of us went down and watched the ocean and talked a bit” on the porch of the oceanfront clubhouse, said Briny Breezes Mayor Ted Gross. “Everyone was prepared.”
The town, like most of the other coastal communities in south Palm Beach County, saw little or no impact from Hurricane Milton, which made landfall late Wednesday near Sarasota.
“We prepared for the worst and the best happened,” said Gross, who along with several other residents of the mostly mobile home community hunkered down despite a county evacuation order.
“We have a decent amount of communication with one another,” Gross said, adding that he and other residents were ready to leave if it appeared a change in Milton’s path would have a greater chance of affecting the town.
A boat carrying migrants beached in the 4000 block of North Ocean Boulevard in Gulf Stream on Oct. 9 ahead of Hurricane Milton making landfall on Florida's west coast. Authorities said 11 migrants were taken into custody. The boat was removed the following day. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
Just to the south of Briny Breezes that same afternoon, Boynton Beach police and fire and other agencies responded to the arrival of a boat with refugees coming ashore.
Gulf Stream Police Chief Richard Jones said that 11 migrants were taken into custody at about 4 p.m. in the 4000 block of North Ocean Boulevard after the boat came ashore near the Ballantrae condominiums. Jones' department assisted in the effort along with other first responder agencies including Delray Beach and Ocean Ridge.
As for the hurricane's impact, Highland Beach Fire Chief Glenn Joseph said his department responded to some downed and arcing powerlines on State Road A1A, while in Delray Beach and Gulf Stream officials said damage was limited to a tree branch or two in the streets.
Boca Raton also emerged from the storm in good shape.
“All generally OK and grateful for it,” Mayor Scott Singer said in a text message.
“No major impacts at all,” said city spokeswoman Ileana Olmsted in an email.
Officials in Manalapan, Lantana and South Palm Beach reported little or no issues with beach erosion — with the storm coming from the west — or with street flooding as a result of minimal rainfall.
While much of the focus was on Milton and its winds, a tornado spawned in one of the hurricane’s outer bands was blamed for multiple deaths in a Fort Pierce-area senior mobile home community that was similar in many ways to Briny Breezes.
In Palm Beach County, other tornados caused destructive damage in parts of Wellington and Palm Beach Gardens.
About 31,000 of Florida Power & Light’s 784,000 customers in Palm Beach County remained without power as of noon Thursday, although there were no outages reported by local community leaders in the coastal south county area.
Mary Thurwachter, Jerry Lower, John Pacenti, Mary Hladky and Brian Biggane contributed to this story.
Jay Kelley (left) and his wife, Jo Bennett, help Briny Breezes resident Holly McCarthy secure her home on Oct. 8 after Palm Beach County urged evacuation for people living in mobile and manufactured homes. Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star
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