MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — After neighbors said they had "no warning," 10 Investigates has been digging into what exactly happened with the Lake Manatee dam release during Hurricane Debby but hasn't had much luck getting answers from Manatee County.
We're trying to find out how county leaders made decisions and when they alerted people about the dam release. So we asked for various public records to get a comprehensive timeline, including a list of entries on the significant events log maintained at the Emergency Operations Center between Aug. 2-7.
We were denied saying the information was sensitive to emergency response under Florida Statute. We have also asked for an engineering report but haven't received it.
They're also unable to tell us exactly who received the warning alerts on their phones through the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System. They say it's FEMA and not the county that sends the messages to the cell phone companies to be sent to phones, warning of major flooding.
One of those messages read:
"Manatee Co. Manatee Dam doing strategic release to cause dangerous swift moving water and flooding. Leave area NOW. Shelters available. Highwater vehicles being staged in area. Call 311 for information. Use 911 for emergencies ONLY."
10 Tampa Bay took a deeper dive into which Tampa Bay-area communities have emergency action plans for dams, including the one at Lake Manatee. Check out the potential hazards with dams.