Many are still without electricity while others depend on relief supplies of water, ice and food as a flooding threat and another storm loom.
By JORGE SANCHEZ
Published September 9, 2004
[Times photo: Stephen J. Coddington]
Eric Lecompte, 12, leads his mother Teresa Lecompte through the flooded streets of their Cedar Lake Estates neighborhood Wednesday morning in Crystal River. The two were wading through the flood waters to check on the welfare of their neighbors.
As the Frances aftermath continued Wednesday, some weary Citrus residents went to relief stations seeking water, ice and a bite to eat. Thousands of people kept waiting for power companies to restore service at their homes and businesses. And preliminary reports showed 350 homes and businesses suffered storm-related damage - with many more results still being tallied.
The storm battered Citrus County with wind gusts recorded at 66 mph Sunday and Monday. Some private gauges registered 15 inches of rain from Frances. It left trees and tree limbs on roads, yards and houses. And it led to a coastal storm surge and some flooding.
The damage that county teams have recorded is enough to qualify Citrus to apply for disaster relief funding. But there's still more damage to be tallied - and, officials fear, perhaps more trouble on the horizon.
Two other problems - flooding along the Withlacoochee River and a possible hit from Hurricane Ivan - weighed heavily on people's minds Wednesday.
The Crystal River City Council scheduled a special meeting for a post- and pre-hurricane updates at 9 a.m. Friday in council chambers, 123 NW U.S. 19.
County officials, meantime, began posting idle speed/no wake signs for boaters on the Withlacoochee. The river, which is expected to reach its highest stage today, will remain open to boat traffic.
Three sandbag stations also are open: at 9556 E Bushnell Road, Floral City; the fire station at 9837 E Gulf to Lake Highway (State Road 44); and, for Arrowhead residents, at Palmview and Stokes Ferry Road.
The site at Arrowhead will have a sandbagging machine.
The school system announced that schools will be closed again today but reopen on Friday. Only 12-month personnel should report to duty today.
The last school used as a shelter, Lecanto Middle, was shut down Wednesday, with the remaining evacuees sent to Crystal River United Methodist Church, 4801 N Citrus Ave.
The number of Citrus businesses and residences without power dipped to fewer than 28,000 on Wednesday. Sumter Electric Cooperative had 2,800 left without power and Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative had 1,280 yet to restore. As of early Wednesday evening Progress Energy had not released the number of Citrus County customers without power. The utility's total on Tuesday was 23,000 waiting to be restored.
Progress Energy hoped to have all its power restored by Sunday; SECO was aiming for Saturday. And WREC didn't want to estimate how long it might take to resume power to its last customers.
SECO acknowledged that some customers in remote areas or with difficult problems to fix could be without power even longer.
Ernie Holzhauer, spokesman for WREC, said its customers who do not yet have power might have to wait a while. "Restoration progress is going to slow because we've moved to the phase where the largest number of customers have already been restored," he said.
The remaining power outages, Holzhauer explained, involved customers whose problems involve the line that feeds their house or some other extraordinary problem.
Paula and Pat Zaring lost power at their home, which is off Turner Camp Road northeast of Inverness, when Frances came through late Sunday morning. SECO still hadn't restored electric service as of Wednesday morning.
But Mrs. Zaring wasn't complaining: She said crews were out there working and doing the best they could. And their home wasn't too badly damaged. "We got lucky," she said.
The Zarings had eight oak and hickory trees come crashing down, one of which bounced off the corner of the garage. One tree took out a power pole, and another knocked out a telephone line.
The trees all fell about the same time, leading them and neighbors to suspect a tornado.
"That's what everybody seems to think out there," said Mrs. Zaring, 48. "It's like they set a bomb off in our yard."
In Homosassa, at one of the county's five emergency supply trailers, crews handed out hot dogs, chips, fruits and soft drinks. Water and ice was in short supply. Whenever a shipment arrived, it was gone in just a few minutes.
Juan Rivera brought his wife, Janet, and their two children to the supply shelter for some hot dogs after sloshing out of their home on Cyprian Court in Homosassa Springs.
"We've got 6 inches of water all around our home," he said.
Rivera said his family managed to find two cases of water and some ice at a Salvation Army site, and they were very glad.
While ice and water were in short supply, there was plenty of free food at the distribution centers.
Central Florida Community College on County Road 491 just north of Grover Cleveland Boulevard in Lecanto is making shower facilities available to citizens until 7 p.m. Check in at the Welcome Center on campus first.
Due to capacity at the landfill, county officials set up an alternate site for disposal of storm-related debris.
Vegetative debris as well as storm-related structural debris will be accepted; however, the two must be separated.
To reach the alternate site, turn north off State Road 44 onto Maylen Avenue and follow the signs. Maylen is west of County Road 490.
The site will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. There is no charge for this service.
Debris clean-up crews, including those contracted by the county and Inverness governments, will begin picking up storm-related debris on Sept. 20 from in front of homes.
Vegetative debris and any storm-related structural debris is to be placed at the curbside.
The debris must be separated into two piles, one vegetative and the other storm-related structural debris in order to be picked up.
Times staff writers Barbara Behrendt, Amy Wimmer Schwarb and Jim Ross contributed to this report. Jorge Sanchez can be reached at 352 860-7313 or e-mail sanchez@sptimes.com
