Residents clean up yards and try on normal routines. Federal assistance may not be possible because damage isn't widespread, but flooding grows.
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published September 8, 2004
TAMPA - The sun emerged Tuesday for the first time in days, but along with it came a sturdy breeze that felt like leftovers from Frances.
Flooding receded along Bayshore Boulevard and on Davis Islands. A flooded stretch of Fowler Avenue near the University of South Florida remained closed to traffic.
Classes for most Hillsborough students will resume today, though children in 15 schools that still have no power get another day off.
So it went across Hillsborough County, where the messy, uncomfortable remnants of Frances mingled with signs that residents and businesses are settling back into their routines - or trying to, anyway.
Kay Dyal was all smiles as she loaded her SUV with groceries from the Kash 'N Karry on Swann Avenue. After days stuck inside her South Tampa condominium, she felt free.
"I'm elated. The clouds have lifted, I can see the sun," she said. "It's nice to actually see people again! It was like a ghost town the past few days."
Coffee drinkers flocked to the Starbucks on S Howard Avenue, some of them powerless residents seeking air conditioning, others just looking for a break from yard cleanup.
"My twin boys and I filled five trash bags, and we didn't even make a dent," Golfview resident Lisa Mulfinger said as she stood in line for her Starbucks fix.
Davis Islands resident Irene Lamb, 72, labored in her front yard on S Davis Boulevard before lunch. She filled several big plastic bags with the fallen branches and other debris.
Lamb, her husband and her 99-year-old mother have been without power since 2 a.m. Sunday. As the rain came down and the bay surged Monday, she looked out her window and watched as her street and the runway of Peter O. Knight Airport became a saltwater lake.
But when breakfast time came Tuesday, the water was gone. So Lamb tried to create some semblance of normalcy.
"We have a camp stove, so we made bacon and eggs and coffee and we invited our neighbors over," Lamb smiled, her forehead glistening with sweat as she took a break from raking. "But I am tired and right now really hot."
She's not alone. About 60,000 customers still were without power as of Tuesday afternoon.
The power outages continued to affect street lights, including a dozen or so in unincorporated Hillsborough and 60 within Tampa city limits, according to law enforcement officials.
Deputies and police officers worked at the larger intersections without power. Tampa police put stop signs at smaller intersections, reminding motorists to treat them as four-way stops.
More than two dozen teams of damage assessors got nearly halfway through Hillsborough on Tuesday. They identified 156 structures with at least minor damage caused by Frances - 113 homes (including mobile homes) with minor damage, 33 homes with major damage, three residences that were destroyed and seven businesses with some damage, according to Robert Brophy, chief of the damage assessment team from the Hillsborough Property Appraiser's Office.
The 26 assessment teams expect to be completing damage reports for days, especially in areas such as Lithia, where the Alafia River is flooding its banks.
"In the end, this storm will be more of a flooding event than a wind event," Brophy said. "The rivers are still rising and there are numerous places we can't even get to yet."
The teams' findings will help officials determine whether Hillsborough residents qualify for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the Small Business Administration.
President Bush declared 18 counties eligible for FEMA disaster assistance, but Hillsborough is not among those in which residents have qualified for individual assistance. That could change if assessment teams can document enough damage locally, but county emergency manager Larry Gispert warned that Frances was no Charley.
"We are not seeing any widespread damage of any nature," Gispert said. "This is nothing in comparison to Charley, and nothing in comparison to the east coast that got the first hit from Frances."
Still, flooding remained a headache for residents from Valrico to New Tampa.
The Alafia River in southern Hillsborough crested to more than 22 feet Tuesday, flooding homes and prompting the U.S. Coast Guard to evacuate at least 16 residents who were trapped in their homes.
About 10 inches of rain fell in New Tampa, swelling Trout Creek so that it swallowed the northbound two-lane bridge of Bruce B. Downs near Hunter's Green. Sheriff's deputies closed the lanes at about 9:50 a.m. and detoured traffic to one of the southbound lanes.
By 1:30 p.m., long lines of cars in both directions were driving at about 25 mph in the 45 mph zone. Deputies said they don't expect the waters to recede for another two days.
Trout Creek, which stretches south from Pasco County into the Hillsborough River, is measured every six weeks by the U.S. Geological Survey and appeared to have reached record levels.
"I've never seen it this high," said George Baraketi, a hydrologic technician. "And I've been doing this for 10 years."
Tampa police spokesman Joe Durkin said Fowler Avenue between 15th and 30th streets will be closed possibly through the end of the week because water still blocks lanes in both directions.
Times staff writers Jeffrey Solochek, Letitia Stein, Jeff Testerman, Michael Van Sickler and Josh Zimmer contributed to this report. Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com
