Myakka rancher prepares for hurricane season

MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. — Manatee County rancher Jim Strickland says Hurricane Milton brought 6 to 8-foot waves to his property, which is more than 20 miles from the Gulf.

He says rebuilding from the damage has been slow.

This is a call that Strickland has mastered over the years.

“I’ve raised about 12 generations of these cows,” he said.

Strickland and his family own two ranches in Myakka City, including a 1,300-acre one called “Lost Girl Prairie.”

It may look nice now, but after last year’s hurricanes, he says the property had significant damage — including about 600 downed trees.

“My engineers tell me that we had 6 to 8-foot waves blowing across the water, because we’ve got about 600 acres here of lakes,” he explained.

The strong waves from Hurricane Milton eroded the dikes on his property — barriers that separate bodies of water, crucial for his ranch.

“So now we’re fixing the dikes as fast as we can. It’s hurricane season, but it has taken a year to get the appropriate permits, to get the bids, to get the company to do the work here,” he said.

The work started a couple of weeks ago. Strickland received a federal grant to help rebuild. Part of the money went to hiring a crew to make repairs. They have already fixed three miles of dikes.

“We are coming through patching it up with a little extra dirt to make it thicker,” said Seven Smith, a heavy machinery operator working for Strickland.

There’s only one mile left to repair. One can tell where the patches were made by the white color of the clay-dirt mixture.

Strickland says these repairs are essential.

“When you have an emergency, like a hurricane that knocks out dikes that could possibly affect other people around here, that could help flood them out — which would not be of help.”

Strickland’s ranches are his livelihood. Those repairs were necessary, but the work he’s doing is also protecting the community around him.