While mopping up and pumping out from Hurricane Frances, officials and residents keep a weather eye on Hurricane Ivan's threatening path.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published September 9, 2004
DADE CITY - The County Commission got an early picture Wednesday of Frances' toll on Pasco County:
511 homes and businesses have minor damage.
165 homes and businesses suffered moderate to severe damage.
23 single-family homes are flooded.
And those figures only reflect about 55 percent of the county's damage, as crews still are visiting areas saturated with rain or strewn with debris, said Michele Baker, the county's director of Emergency Management.
Floodwaters and downed trees forced the closure of at least 33 neighborhood streets, she said.
More than 23,000 homes and businesses still lacked electricity Wednesday afternoon, including 10,727 Progress Energy customers, 9,900 customers of Withlacoochee River Electric Company and 3,000 TECO customers. But officials hoped to bring the total number down to 5,000 by Wednesday night.
"You pray, good gosh, that (Hurricane) Ivan doesn't come knocking at our door," County Commissioner Steve Simon said at the meeting in the historic courthouse in Dade City.
Armed with early forecasts of Hurricane Ivan's path, however, Baker told commissioners: "I'm afraid I'm not going to make anybody less nervous."
Projections show the Category 4 storm veering toward Cuba and curling into the Gulf of Mexico. If it ventures toward Florida, Ivan could bring the last thing Pasco County needs: more rain.
"We don't have to be hit by this to be significantly impacted by this," Baker said.
The county still is pumping water to alleviate flooding at the Suncoast Gateway Mobile Village in Port Richey.
"Without those pumps, they would have had water in their houses," County Administrator John Gallagher said.
The mobile home park sits along the path of an elaborate pumping system used by the Magnolia Valley Golf Course, which also is flooded because it collects runoff from surrounding neighborhoods.
Just one inch of rain in the Magnolia Valley basin creates 50-million to 60-million gallons of water, and Frances dumped several inches over the weekend, said Bipin Parikh, the assistant county administrator for development services.
The county's flood task force is meeting daily to discuss emergency fixes for flooded areas, Baker said. If rising waters are threatening homes, the county can start pumping - assuming it can move the water without flooding someone else.
"The problem is going to be finding some place that can take the water," Baker said.
Residents have been lining up for free bottled water, ice and food at distribution centers in Lacoochee, Zephyrhills and Hudson, Baker said. On Tuesday night, 14 people stayed at the American Red Cross emergency shelters in Pasco County, and more could join them once they know there's an alternative to returning to a house without power, she said.
In cooperation with the county and the local Health Department, the Atria Windsor Woods Retirement Community in Hudson is providing shelter for a half-dozen "special needs" patients who can't return home until they have electricity.
Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com
