It's too late to flee, officials say. Many coastal residents are without power. Some roads in eastern part of county are impassable.
By WILL VAN SANT
Published September 5, 2004
BROOKSVILLE -- Even as Hernando County awaited the worst of Hurricane Frances
to strike early Sunday evening, the storm's savage strength was evident
by afternoon.
At 1 .p.m., emergency management director Tom Leto said mobile homes had sustained damage.
In the High Point mobile home community, he said, some roofs and awnings had been ripped
off.
"I hope to God there was nobody in them,'' Leto said. "That's why we told them to
leave.''
Leto spoke in front of a large projection screen set up in an emergency center at the
Sheriff's Office in Brooksville. On the screen, Frances continued its steady advance toward
the Tampa Bay area while emergency workers fielded calls from frightened residents.
Many were callers who had not heeded a mandatory evacuation of mobile homes and low-lying
areas threatened by floods. With the storm upon them, they asked for someone to fetch them
from harm's way and get them to safety.
With sustained tropical storm force winds of between 40 to 70 mph, Leto said it was too
dangerous to send help.
"Just bunker down and do the very best you can,'' Leto said. "At this point there is not
very much that we can do.''
Power lines were down across the county, with live wires reported on Martin Luther King Jr.
Boulevard and North Avenue in Brooksville. Firefighters were trying to bring a house fire undr
control on Abagail Drive in Spring Hill.
After outages left some 30,000 without power by early Sunday morning, electricity had been
restored to all but 12,000 residents by afternoon, but perhaps not for long.
Roads across the county, especially in eastern Hernando, were impassable because of downed
trees, including the eastbound lanes of State Road 50 going into Sumter County.
Sustained tropical storm force winds of up to 70 mph, with gusts of up to 80 mph possible,
were expected to strike the county about 3 p.m. and last through the night. More downed trees,
power outages and blocked roads are likely, officials said.
"Road conditions have deteriorated,'' Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent said. "This
is only going to get worse.''
Hernando County Department of Public Works director Charles Mixson said it was impossible
to clear blocked roads, given the storm conditions, but that he expected a busy day for crews
Monday.
In addition to fierce winds, Frances was expected to bring about a storm surge of 2 to 3
feet along the coast Sunday night and to dump between 8 to 20 inches of rain on the already
saturated county.
Officials expect the Withlacoochee River to flood later in the week. Cleanup and damage
assessments will begin as the storm permits, likely Monday morning, officials said.
[Last modified September 5, 2004, 14:25:31]
