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Frances continues to surprise residents

More flooding, hot days without power and canceled schooldays are expected. A nice surprise: a mayor with a chain saw helping neighbors.

Pasco residents went to bed Sunday night, thinking the worst of Frances was over. But the slow-moving storm slapped the county with an overnight surprise: high winds and heavy rain that flooded streets, damaged a condo in New Port Richey, forced an emergency evacuation in Zephyrhills - and dictated that public schools be closed today.

"It's much worse today. Much worse," said Ken Hartman of the Sea Ranch area in Hudson. "You see stuff flying down the road: signs, trees, aluminum. It's just nasty."

It was nasty all over the county on Monday. For people living along rivers, the situation might get worse.

More rain is expected today, causing "moderate to major" river flooding, according to the National Weather Service.

In Elfers, residents along the Anclote River kept a nervous watch on the water Monday afternoon as it rose into their back yards.

"It's been moving up rapidly since about 8 o'clock this morning," said Lynn Karp, who lives on a flood-prone street appropriately named Paddle Court. Karp did not plan to evacuate yet.

"Basically we're not going to leave unless we have to," she said. "We're going to ride it out."

Glen Thibodeaux, who was clearing limbs off Elfers Parkway in the rain Monday, has lived beside the river for six years. He wasn't planning to leave.

"You want to live on the river, you've got to deal with the river," he said. "Right now it's pretty bad. It's going to get worse in a couple of days."

About 64,434 Pasco residents were without power Monday afternoon. Power company officials said they couldn't promise restoration until Frances was finished having its way.

"We're ahead of it now" said Laura Plumb, spokeswoman for Tampa Electric Co. The company started the day with 7,000 customers out in the Dade City area, but as the storm retreated, restoration efforts brought that down to 5,900. Customers can expect to have power within 10 to 14 days, Plumb said.

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative's Ernie Holzhauer said crews were working through the night to restore power for its 11,400 affected central and east Pasco customers, but he couldn't estimate how long that would take. And the 47,134 customers who are serviced by Progress Energy should just wait and pray Frances calms down.

"We can't even get out to assess the damage," spokesman Rick Janka said.

Dade City, which was among the first communities to lose power, got some restored Monday. In the morning, 9,000 customers were in the dark, but power was gradually restored. Crews gave priority to Pasco Regional Medical Center, downtown government buildings and emergency services.

Pasco County schools superintendent John Long made the decision to close schools again today, making it the third day this session schools have closed because of hurricanes.

Maintenance workers were dispatched Monday evening to investigate possible damage to each of the 59 school sites. Power was out at several east Pasco campuses. And Long, who was going on 30 hours without power at his own Land O'Lakes home, said Frances' persistence was interfering with planning.

"In 26 years I've been here, I've never been through anything like this," Long said. "This is actually the storm from hell."

School employees who still haven't gotten their paychecks from Friday can pick them up at the district offices in Land O'Lakes, Building 3, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. with picture identification.

Long said principals, maintenance and custodial staff members would spend today preparing shelters to open as schools again on Wednesday. But with widespread power outages and a continued threat of flooding in parts of the county, he said the district wouldn't know for sure when classes would resume for the district's 57,000 students and 7,500 employees. He would be making a decision Tuesday afternoon.

Pasco-Hernando Community College also canceled classes for today, with plans to resume at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

LAND O'LAKES: In a repeat of El Nino flooding in 1998, sections of the Carpenter's Run neighborhood in Land O'Lakes were under 2 and 3 feet of water Monday.

Flood water was knee or waist deep, depending on one's height, at Baker Road and Tailor Drive.

The fault lay with backed-up storm sewers unable to spill into already full retention ponds. As if it were a spring, water bubbled up from manhole covers and cracked the asphalt.

Neighbors made the best of it, kayaking, inner-tubing and swimming in the lake that was their streets.

Lisa DeLong expressed little surprise at the water lapping at the mulched flower beds of her house on Baker Road. The flooding ended about 10 feet shy of her sand-bagged front door.

"I knew it was going to happen with the pond that full," she said after the rain let up about 2 p.m. Monday. "They should have pumped the pond."

Michelle Lee faced approaching flood waters from both sides of her house. The pond out back crept within a couple of feet of her screened porch, while the Baker Road flood immersed part of her driveway.

Lee blamed a standoff between her homeowners association and water management officials for the floods. For some reason, a series of interconnected ponds that ultimately dump into Cypress Creek work poorly in heavy rains.

"This is ridiculous," Lee said not long after a truck plowing through the water threw a wave further up onto her property. "Each homeowner pays $400 a year to the association. They should be fighting for us."

In a double whammy on Carpenter's Run, Progress Energy still hadn't restored power as of late afternoon Monday. Many milled about on the street - chatting, clearing brush and sipping beer - rather than sit cooped up in their hot houses.

Among neighbors' most fervent wish was that the flood waters recede faster this time around than they did in the late 1990s. Water sat on Baker and Tailor for three months during El Nino.

PORT RICHEY: "Twenty-three hours, fifteen minutes," Tim Hanson blurted out, standing just inside his garage on Bay Boulevard about 3:30 p.m. Monday. After nearly a day without electricity, the lights returned, and so did his sanity.

"I was going stir crazy," Hanson said.

He and his wife played Yahtzee by candlelight until they couldn't stand it anymore and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs on the grill. "Nice holiday," Hanson, 58, deadpanned on a soggy, wind-swept Labor Day. "Real nice holiday."

DADE CITY: Jason Fladd, grime-covered from clearing fallen oak limbs at his house on Dade City's Meridian Avenue, was surprised by the well-groomed man, wearing a clean white button-down shirt, approaching down an alley with a chain saw.

"Hey it's the mayor," Fladd said as Hutch Brock, a neighbor from Church Street, yanked his chain saw to life and began slicing a fallen oak trunk that had crushed a neighbor's privacy fence.

A crowd of about 10 looked on approvingly. How many other town's have mayors that do the dirty work?

"There we go!" Brock said as a piece of oak thumped to the ground from his spinning saw. The white button-down turned translucent with sweat.

"Whoo hoo!" a couple of men yelped.

To that point, Fladd and his friends had been frustrated by what they felt was the slowness of repair crews.

By late afternoon residents of Meridian, at least those away from downtown, still were without power. Snakes of downed electrical and phone cable curled in the grass.

Passing city trucks got jeered by the sweaty neighbors hauling brush and logs.

"They've got their windows up so they can't hear us yell at them," Fladd joked as yet another city crew passed in a pickup.

Every severe storm seems to thin Meridian's oaken canopy and eat away at Dade City's well-earned nickname, Tree City USA.

"Hopefully we'll have power back tomorrow," Fladd said as he stood next to heaps of branches near his boarded-up house. Tonight would be nice."

SEA RANCH: The stench was overpowering for anyone turning onto Sea Ranch Drive in Hudson. With nowhere else to go, sewage water poured from a lift station and a nearby pipe. Some went into a first-floor apartment not far from U.S. 19.

"I walked out this morning and just about gagged," said JoEl Hatfield, 42, who lives on the second floor.

Greg Hayes in apartment A pointed to his ceiling then poked a finger in the mushy plaster. "The water is coming right through," he said. "Frances is hitting us hard."

Elsewhere in Sea Ranch, several streets had minor flooding and there were power lines down. At least one boat was blown off a lift. A street sign was ripped from the ground and a few car ports were mangled.

WESLEY CHAPEL: Standing water covered points all along Quail Hollow Boulevard on Monday morning, even as rain continued to pour and pine trees whipped in the wind.

White picket fences surrounding many of the homes were nearly submerged. Cars and trucks cautiously made their way through the roads.

At a private ranch where horses skipped in the puddles, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative crews waded through waist-deep water to repair a power line.

All main lines were down in the area, workers said, and they didn't know when it would be safe to pump electricity through them again.

HUDSON BEACH: At Port Hudson Marina, water was licking the front door of Mike's Dockside restaurant. But boats held firm, despite the high wind and rocking waves.

On the beach, a scattering of people showed up early Monday afternoon to marvel at the wind and white-capped waves, which slapped against sea walls and the boardwalk.

"It's awesome," 15-year-old David Sowers said after making his way across the beach.

"Frances has come back for us," said D.J. Dayton, who was with his 2-year-old son, Dayvin. "I think today caught people off guard. The wind is much stronger than (Sunday)."

Teresa Edelman, 37, feared the worst is to come. "Frances is getting us ready for Ivan," she said of the hurricane bearing down on the Caribbean. "That's going to be the big one."

Times staff writers Rebecca Catalanello, Alex Leary, Steve Thompson and James Thorner contributed to this report.