Patience and preparations keys to hurricane survival
Published September 9, 2004
Perseverance, patience, but not panic.
Those are the buzzwords in the wake of Tropical Storm Frances and the projection that Hurricane Ivan, now a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds, could be heading our way.
Take a gander at the remnants of Frances. Plywood covered windows are the latest architectural trend. Billboards are torn and some business signs are gone entirely. Downed tree branches are the norm. Ice, water and government rations are being distributed to the people without electricity. High water remains. So do the fears of additional flooding.
Community Hospital in New Port Richey is facing a quarter-million-dollar repair bill after winds ripped off a portion of the hospital's roof. Wal-Mart estimated damage and lost inventory at $400,000 after water from melting freezers and damaged skylights soaked its super center store in Seven Springs.
Still, the tropical storm that plodded through the Tampa Bay area Sunday and Monday did modest damage here. Around Pasco County, preliminary damage assessments are about 55 percent complete and show 511 homes and businesses with minor damage and 165 with moderate to major damage. Some county roads remain under water and repair bills won't be tallied until the water recedes. Fourteen people spent Tuesday night in a west side shelter, but more were expected as residents realized there was an alternative to staying home amid the discomfort of no air conditioning.
As of midafternoon Wednesday, 30,000 customers remained without electricity, though Michelle Baker, emergency management director, projected the number could be reduced to just 5,000 by the end of the day.
Perseverance must be accompanied by maintaining patience. Tempers can grow short amid the sticky heat and inconveniences. Tuesday night, a woman angrily confronted a crew in the Lakewood Villas neighborhood off Massachusetts Avenue in west Pasco, complaining about lost electricity.
"She was ranting that she was dying, but she had a cigarette in her hand. She didn't look like she was dying," said Marjorie L. Goetz, who contacted the Times about the incident. (Her letter appears elsewhere on this page.) "I put my hand on her shoulder, gently, and tried to tell her a lot of people are in the same boat, but then she took off after me with the bad language."
Elsewhere, people who brought their own yard debris to the county landfills met unexpected delays because of the volume of traffic.
"Lines are long and tempers are short," Baker said.
To avoid the wait, residents should ask the county to pick up their yard debris, which it will do free of charge. Even though it is wise to expedite yard cleanups in light of Ivan's potential, residents should take advantage of the county service and avoid personal trips to the landfill.
After patience comes preparation for Ivan.
"We don't have to be hit by this hurricane to be significantly impacted," Baker said.
Rain is unwelcome. Flooding has been reported in several neighborhoods. Streets remain under water at the Suncoast Gateway Mobile Home Park in Port Richey because the 1,200-acre Magnolia Valley drainage area has no way to discharge water unless it is pumped out. One inch of rainfall can produce 50 to 60 million gallons of water in the drainage area, the county said, and the flow takes the water north of Ridge Road and under U.S. 19 and Old Post Road. High water at the end of the line forces a backup throughout the three-decades-old drainage system. It is a symptom of development predating Southwest Florida Water Management District drainage regulations.
The county's own policy is to pump floodwater that threatens homes if there is a suitable location to receive the water and the county can logistically deliver it there.
It is a policy, like much of the rest of Pasco's emergency management preparations, that could be tested severely by early next week.
