Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies

A lingering flood of trouble

Frances steals water from Tampa Bay and pushes it into low-lying streets in St. Petersburg.

ST. PETERSBURG - Tom and Paula Wright went to bed Sunday night thinking the worst of Frances was behind them. Monday morning, waves were lapping at the doorstep of their yellow bungalow in Shore Acres.

"We love the house," said Tom Wright, 56. "Now we just wish it was 2 or 3 feet higher in elevation."

Throughout Pinellas County, residents awoke Monday to a very different Frances. As it exited slowly to the northwest, the storm lashed the area with rain and gusting winds, pushing water out of Tampa Bay and into city streets.

Residents in such low-lying areas as Shore Acres in St. Petersburg got the worst of it. While the Wrights' house on Bayou Grande Boulevard remained dry, there were reports of water in at least 20 homes in the flood-prone area. The extent of the damage was being assessed Monday.

At one point, four of every 10 Progress Energy customers in Pinellas were without electricity. Dozens of traffic signals were flashing or out.

"Obviously, it has been a difficult couple of days for the city," St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Baker said. "It's been a difficult month. But I've got a high degree of confidence that we'll get through it."

Lan Tran, who lives on Connecticut Avenue NE, got up at 6 a.m. thinking her roof had sprung a leak.

"I started looking around and there was water up to here," she said pointing to her calf. "By 9 we had about 10 inches of water in the house."

The water made it impossible to leave Shore Acres by the usual three exits: across the Overlook Drive bridge to Snell Isle, across 40th Avenue NE or out to 62nd Avenue NE. Water stood in many yards and edged into porches, garages and carports.

People in canoes and kayaks paddled down the streets. On Arizona Avenue, Scott Runk reported seeing snakes in the water. He didn't speculate what kind they might have been.

"They've been out there swimming, poking their heads out of the water," Runk said.

Flooding wasn't confined to Shore Acres.

In North Pinellas, water from Old Tampa Bay flooded a handful of homes along the coastal area of Shore Drive and Shore Boulevard in Oldsmar.

On St. Petersburg's Snell Isle, John Cunningham watched the water creep halfway up the driveway of his home near the Renaissance Vinoy Resort & Golf Club.

"I think it's going down," he said, hopefully.

Cunningham, 48, moved to Snell Isle from Los Angeles in April to be closer to his parents in Sarasota. He tried to remain positive Monday as he built a tiny dam of leaves and twigs in front of his garage to help mark the water level.

"This is just part of the experience," Cunningham said. Although "when the kids start rafting (in the street) you know it's bad."

Various intersections in northeast St. Petersburg were impassable because of high water, although some overconfident drivers tried their luck, leaving behind stalled cars. Water gushed out of manhole covers that threatened to pop off.

Damage throughout the rest of the county was sporadic.

The blue monotube at Park Boulevard and 66th Street, made to withstand hurricane force winds of 130 mph, was unharmed. But the traffic signals hanging from it went out early in the storm and remained off for the duration.

A power line was down in the Sunset Palms Mobile Home Park and an anti-DUI billboard had twisted and partially collapsed against the Suncoast Bicycles store.

High winds Sunday ripped much of the roof from a condominium building in Dunedin, prompting fire officials to declare 30 units unfit for habitation. And a house fire in Oldsmar was thought to be caused by a candle.

In the Sunset Beach neighborhood of Treasure Island, pieces of roofing littered the street and some power lines were down, but Caddy's on the Waterfront was open and serving beer. A number of people also walked along the beach, watching the waves and the surfers.

Some of the beach suffered significant erosion. What was once a sloping dune is now a 3-foot cliff in some areas, and many of the grass roots and shrubs were exposed. Only a foot of the beach was visible.

Still, Brad Mikhailoff walked along with a metal detector, searching for treasure. He was not very successful. "I might have enough to buy a beer," said Mikhailoff, 56, of Largo. He and his treasure hunting partner Johnny Redman of Orlando, were planning to head to Sebastian, hoping for better luck on the beaches there.

On Madeira Beach, Max Carpenter, 40, watched as wind ripped shingles from his neighbors' roofs and robbed boats of their sails. He battled the marathon chaos of Frances with his wife, two neighbors and a sense of calm.

When a 6- by 10-foot metal awning detached from his neighbor's house and started flying around, Carpenter took action: he parked his big, blue pickup truck on top of it.

"We're not bothered by it," he said Monday, standing in his electricity-deprived home. "... It's just part of living on the water, I guess."

At Indian Springs Marina in Largo, a metal roof on an empty storage building was peeled back, exposing beams.

"I think my boat's okay," said chiropractor Harry Montero, 50, who craned his neck outside the gate to check on his boat, a $90,000 Trojan. "I didn't have insurance so I was really petrified."

In Pinellas Point's Pink Streets, residents were making the best of a bad situation.

Jim Wetzel said he and a few neighbors on the south side of Serpentine Circle S lost power Saturday evening. More fortunate residents had been generous: They stored his perishables and welcomed children from homes without electricity.

"We're grilling everything that's been about to go bad," Wetzel said.

"It's just been a little boring. It's not been that bad."

Times staff writers Leanora Minai, Waveney Ann Moore, Anne Lindberg, Marilyn Garateix, Richard Danielson, Jim Verhulst, Jade Jackson Lloyd and Tamara Lush contributed to this report.

St. Petersburg residents can take storm debris to city brush sites. The sites will be open regular hours starting today.

For small amounts, place debris in your trash container.

For large amounts of debris, place plant material in a pile in front of your house by the curb and call (727) 893-7398 after 8 a.m. today for a special pickup.

Please place other items such as building materials, shingles, fence posts and aluminum in a separate pile and call (727) 893-7398 after 8 a.m. today.