Falling trees, some crashing onto roofs, and power outages were the immediate effects of Frances on eastern Pasco County, but authorities knew of no serious damage. Here are snapshots of what happened Sunday.
By JAMES THORNER, STEPHEN HEGARTY and MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published September 6, 2004
Dramatic damage was scarcely visible in Wesley Chapel and Land O'Lakes. But as darkness fell, thousands of residents sat in darkened homes.
Generators hummed in garages whose doors were cracked to vent exhaust. A few residents chugged beer on stoops or, donning raincoats, strolled streets to survey possible damage.
The storm disabled traffic lights at major intersections such as U.S. 41 and State Road 54 and County Line Road and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.
Among the populous central Pasco neighborhoods left without electricity when Frances crossed the region Sunday afternoon: Meadow Pointe, Oakstead and Plantation Palms.
Meadow Pointe lost power about 3 p.m., Oakstead about 1 p.m. and Plantation Palms about 5 p.m., neighbors said.
A residents' power companies, rather than geography, seemed to determine outages. When Plantation Palms on Collier Parkway went dark, the abutting neighborhood, Lake Padgett Estates East, stayed lit.
Plantation is served by Progress Energy, Lake Padgett East by Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative.
Even as evening broke, as winds began to diminish, reports of downed wires flowed in. Carpenter's Run, south of State Road 54, reported a broken line at Mason Court and Spinning Wheel Drive.
The most conspicuous wreckage was scores of splintered or uprooted trees, the vast majority of which were fairly recent plantings with shallow roots.
Among the most wind-blasted trees were those near Beardsley Drive and Mansfield Boulevard in Meadow Pointe.
As Frances' winds whooshed down from the north, a row of oak saplings in front of the Vermillion town homes fell single file against a white picket fence.
Bigger trouble resulted from an uprooted tree that blocked a westbound lane of County Line Road in Meadow Pointe.
Visually stunning, but largely harmless, was the billboard knocked about on SR 54 in front of Remington Steakhouse near Interstate 75.
With its twisted metal sheeting and advertising mural flopping in the wind, many motorists, at least those braving the storm, stopped to gawk.
Zephyrhills
Bob Benjamin was sitting on his front porch Sunday afternoon when a jolting sight interrupted the soothing drizzle of rain.
A gust of wind rushed down Eighth Street, and an enormous live oak, maybe 40 feet tall, split down the middle. Benjamin watched as half the trunk fell into the street, causing a transformer to explode.
Almost immediately, power in his one-story, concrete block home went out.
"I ran back into my house and I had power popping in there," said Benjamin's wife, Peg.
About an hour later, the second half of the splintered trunk went down, doing greater damage.
The tree fell on a blue and white house across from the Benjamins', but no one was inside. Bob Benjamin said he hadn't seen the occupants, a married couple, in several days.
"I looked up and said, "There it goes, " he said.
Trees and power lines were down all over the city, many traffic lights were out and a few mobile homes had damaged carports and porches. But there appeared to be little major damage.
Police Chief Russell Barnes cruised the streets Sunday evening to check on homes and people. Power was out in the central part of the city and he was considering imposing a curfew to prevent looting.
"Overall, I think we did pretty good," he said.
Dade City
With much of Dade City without power, many resorted to generators.
At the Royal Oak Nursing Center, the generator was keeping the lights on. But the residents had to go without air conditioning.
"It really is cooler than usual," said administrator Anita Howard. "The air conditioning is still down, but nobody is complaining. We've been very lucky so far."
It was the same at the Heritage Park Specialty Care center. They relied on the generator for power, but had no air conditioning.
"The generator is holding up nicely," said registered nurse Ruth Buckman. "Otherwise, we have flashlights galore."
Dade City residents were among the first to witness Frances' power. After the first century-old oak tree went down, blocking 11th Street on Saturday night, the Dade City work crews saw another tree that looked ready to go down in the wind gusts.
They advised the homeowner that it might be wise to ride out the storm elsewhere.
"She got out 15, maybe 20 minutes before the tree went down," said Joe Wubbena, director of Dade City Safety Services.
The tree crashed into the house, collapsing the roof and enveloping much of the house.
"We've got a lot of old trees in Dade City - lots of big, old trees," said Ray Timer, Dade City safety services inspector. "Those trees can be very dangerous when they come down."
The other immediate danger? Virtually the entire city, and many other parts of east Pasco, were without power since late Sunday morning, as the winds picked up, and the storm mass marched westward.
Late Sunday, it appeared unlikely that power would be restored before the morning. So residents prepared to settle in and hope they had ample supplies of candles, generators and patience.
* * *
Melvin and DeDe Madill lost their power about 5 a.m. Sunday. So they opened their windows, cranked up a generator and fired up the grill to cook some sausages.
The Dade City couple had already taken a hit from the storm. Sometime during the night, a massive branch snapped off an old oak on the edge of their property. It fell into their spacious back yard, missing the house by just a few yards.
"All I know is it happened some time last night," said Mrs. Madill. "Believe it or not, we didn't hear a thing." They woke up when the power went off and found that their back yard had disappeared beneath the tangle of a branch and leaves. The branch, larger than two average trees put together, covered their pool (where they stored their lawn furniture) and just barely missed their play house and swing set.
"I feel blessed for sure," Mr. Madill said, surveying the yard.
* * *
The tree that went down along Howard Street fell in broad daylight. Charlie Apsey heard it snap.
"It was like a big cracking sound," he said.
The tree toppled, root system and all, Sunday morning and fell harmlessly away from any houses.
"It's kind of weird," Apsey said early Sunday afternoon. "Because it hasn't really been that windy yet."
