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Frances largely spares county

The weakening storm "was like a big minor inconvenience," one forecaster says.

TAMPA - Hillsborough County residents dodged their second hurricane in a month as a downgraded Frances fluttered north and into the Gulf of Mexico Sunday night.

Although officials and residents won't soon forget Sunday, which was jam-packed with storm-related emergencies, the day wasn't nearly as disastrous as some had predicted.

"It was real bad all over, but no flooding and very minor property damage," said Tom Dougherty, a forecaster with the National Weather Service. "It was like a big minor inconvenience spread over a widespread area."

About 218,000 lost power as the county was thumped with winds that ranged between 40 and 55 mph and gusts of more than 60 mph. More than 6 inches of rain soaked the county, which may have caused a leak at a Cargill fertilizer plant in Riverview.

About 5,700 people headed for shelters.

Power outages knocked out more than 20 traffic signals in Tampa, said police spokesman Joe Durkin, and at another 100 intersections in the county, said Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman Lt. Rod Reder.

Today, sheriff's officials will use 64 court bailiffs to direct traffic at those intersections and will be putting up barricades with stop signs.

Electricity went out at several wastewater pumping stations, prompting city and county officials to warn residents not to flush their toilets unless absolutely necessary.

"If they are out of power and you continue to flush, that can result in a backup into your house," said county administrator Pat Bean.

Ross Bannister, spokesman for Tampa Electric Co., said utility workers were fixing downed lines Sunday night and that damage assessment teams will be on the road first thing today, before most people get their morning newspapers.

"It'll be a multiple day outage for a lot of folk," said Bannister, whose own home in Seminole Heights was without electricity Sunday night.

"We realize these are the dog days of summer," he said. "We will be working as swiftly and safely as we can."

Some residents who might have ended up with no home at all after a more serious storm instead were mostly inconvenienced.

Bean had ordered a mandatory evacuation for residents in mobile and manufactured homes and recreational vehicles starting at 6 p.m. Saturday. It would be nearly 24 hours before the storm's remaining core hit Tampa.

"We tried to make a decision that didn't involve people being displaced from their normal homes and businesses too early," Bean said. "But if you wait too late, then you have people driving out in it."

It wasn't until about 2 p.m. Sunday when downtown Tampa felt the storm in earnest, with trees swaying at odd angles and wind making an eerie growl.

At that time, Bean ordered all emergency personnel off the road. There were scattered instances when they still responded to calls for help, such as the fatal one-car accident on Sheldon Road shortly after 4 p.m. and the leak at the Riverview fertilizer plant.

"People have got to realize that these people have a life too," said Bean, speaking of emergency workers. "And they want to be able to go home after this shift."

While Frances was much weaker than when it struck Florida's east coast as a Category 2 hurricane Saturday, it still mustered enough force to rip apart power lines, trees and roof shingles across Hillsborough County.

The weakened storm didn't spare Bruce Kraus' Riverview fish farm.

"We had a disaster," said Kraus, who specializes in koi, the brightly colored carp cousins often found in backyard ponds. "I'm sitting here just almost in tears."

The barnlike fish hatchery at Kraus Tropicals, which also breeds and sells giant snails, catfish and other exotic aquatic life, was obliterated by wind gusts. Kraus also lost power and water in the building, which houses more than 5,000 fish and other creatures.

The building is a "complete loss," Kraus said. Insurance will probably cover the loss of the hatchery, and he may be able to move some fish into one of his 48 outdoor ponds. Still, he estimates he'll lose about $70,000 in fish alone.

"Nobody expected this," he said. "I'm fixing to lose a bunch of money, I'm afraid."

Elsewhere, Frances struck in unexpected and potentially lethal ways.

A stray power line posed a freak threat to Winfred Douglas. Sunday afternoon, the 57-year-old was driving west on Thonotosassa Road to pick up his son, who lives in a mobile home in Dover. Suddenly a powerline above him exploded. Like a whip, it lashed at his car and sliced his driver's side mirror clean off.

"I ain't going back there to get it," he said.

Heavy gusts of wind blew all day in Hillsborough County. At times, it seemed Frances was bearing down on those who fled across the state to escape it.

Carol Martin of Vero Beach climbed into a rented RV outside her downtown Tampa hotel Sunday to check on her parrots, Gracie and Beeper, but the visit didn't last long. As a wind gust swept through downtown, Martin grabbed her pillows and her Shih Tzu, Zack, and ran back to the hotel.

"I was going to take a nap, but it started shaking," she said. "I don't want to be out there in that."

Others didn't have a choice.

David Beauregard watched the sky Sunday, wondering whether the worst was yet to come each time the winds picked up and the rains fell harder.

The 50-year-old homeless man said he tried to find shelter Saturday but couldn't. With bus service suspended for the storm, Beauregard said he had few options and no way to get to safety.

"It's very rough, very depressing," he said Sunday evening, pacing downtown Tampa's Fort Brooke Parking Garage for a dry space away from the winds. "I've just been wandering. Trying to stay dry."

No food and no shelter, Beauregard said all he had was "the dirty clothes on my back."

"It's a hell of lot worse when you're on the streets," he said. "You don't know what's going to come at you or anything."

The debris-filled streets at Fort Brooke Mobile Home Park showed how fickle electric service could be. Emory Solomon came back to his mobile home to cook some food, because the place where he'd been staying lost power.

Minutes later, there was a slight boom. His girlfriend poked her head out the front door to say they had lost power too.

The big oaks at Fort Brooke crackled in a big gust of wind.

"Good God almighty," he said. "It's here now."

On Solomon's side of the street, people were without power, while those on the north side could cook and watch television.

George Spoffard, 44, didn't mind the wind or rain. In fact, he preferred the outdoors over sitting inside his South Tampa home without electricity.

He loaded his Jeep with his two sons and his fishing reels and headed for Bayshore Boulevard.

"We fish a lot, but this was just an excuse to get out," Spoffard said, standing along Hillsborough Bay in a rain coat. "I figured it's pretty safe along the balustrade. No trees. No flying debris."

Others tried to make the most of a drab day.

The Valrico Citco on State Road 60 near St. Cloud Avenue lost power at about 12:30 p.m. But store manager Penney Copeland lit a candle and kept serving customers.

"We're open 24 hours," she said, as she kept track of transactions on a sheet of paper.

About the only real excitement from the storm at Teresa Logan's Cross Creek house was the power cutting out about 11 a.m.

Not that big a deal until you have four children whining about the unfit conditions.

So the family stopped at the Marathon Station to pick up bags of potato chips and headed to a friend's apartment to cool down.

"It got so hot in the house, it just ruined the day," said Logan, 41, a stay-at-home mom.

-- Times staff writers Dong-Phuong Nguyen and Janet Zink contributed to this report.