Verizon lineman Jeff Noble tries to get a major phone line back on the poles Monday on Lithia Pinecrest Road near Brooker Road in Valrico.
A pair of young white ibises don’t mind the flooding on River Drive in Valrico near Lithia, after Jeanne caused the Alafia River to rise to new heights. People near the river, though, are sick of it. Frances’ deluge caused the first spillover.
Wind-whipped waves and surge in Tampa Bay eroded the beach on the north end of Apollo Beach Nature Park.
A carport lies in tatters at the Caribbean Isles Mobile Home Community in Apollo Beach. About half of the 500 mobile homes there were damaged.
Whoosh, there it is. A giant puddle awaits cars Monday on Mulrennan Road south of State Road 60 near Valrico after a retention pond overflowed.
Wind-blown citrus pepper a grove off 11th Avenue NW in Ruskin.
Howling winds toppled giant oak trees and crumpled trailer roofs. Water poured over the banks of the Alafia River. The lights flicked off, then on, then stayed off. Drenching rains stunted the early growth of the winter's strawberry harvest.
From Ruskin to Seffner, residents shuddered as Frances and Jeanne walloped eastern Hillsborough County. While spared the worst of the storms that tore through Florida, the region took a hit that was plenty hard. For many people, life won't return to normal until roads are repaired, damaged roofs are fixed and fresh paint is applied to water stains.
Even then, no one will forget the searing impact of the storms of 2004.
LITHIA
The swirling, muddy waters knew no limits.
The Alafia River flooded street after street. Water climbed into homes on stilts and smothered trailers. Cars, furniture, entire mobile homes were lost.
That was the first time, after Frances. But the river wasn't done. This week, on the heels of Hurricane Jeanne, it rose to levels that surprised even residents along a curvy pass who are used to frequent floodings.
"We've had, just like everyone else, more than we can stand," said Karen Wagner, who lives in a house on stilts on the Alafia that sustained some flood damage.
Now commuters across the region know the pain.
On Monday, the Alafia washed away a chunk of Lithia Pinecrest Road. Authorities closed the road between Coconut Cove Place and Lithia Springs Road. Repairs can't be made until floodwaters recede. Crews may be able to start Saturday, or they may have to wait for groundwater levels to drop.
For the indefinite future, the estimated 30,000 vehicles that use the road each day have been rerouted from Valrico and Lithia into Brandon. Traffic will snarl from FishHawk Boulevard to Bell Shoals Road to Bloomingdale Avenue and back to Lithia Pinecrest.
"Don't come until we tell you," sheriff's spokesman Rod Reder said.
Residents whose homes were devastated by the floods face the toughest path.
David and Sherri Durr took 5 to 6 feet of water inside their mobile home on Lithia Pinecrest when the Alafia flooded after Frances. In their four years there, they had remodeled the place, replacing drywall, lighting, everything.
"Now it's pretty much toast," said David Durr. Along with the home went irreplaceable personal items, such as a piano from his deceased mother.
Some neighbors are talking about moving, but Durr wants to rebuild - on stilts.
"If you buy a house in Florida on the water, you're going to get flooding from time to time," he said. He thinks the tradeoff is worth it. "The other 364 days of the year are beautiful."
SOUTH SHORE
The storm ripped the awning from the mobile home, twisting the sheets of metal like paper. But three orange pumpkins in the window ledge tell the full story.
The residents survived, thank you. And they want life to feel normal.
Sidney and Marianna Munro evacuated their mobile home in Ruskin before Jeanne's winds began ripping down Shell Point Road. They were glad that only 20 feet of awning was ripped away.
"It shook me up," said Mrs. Munro, 78, noting that she and her husband had returned to their winter home in time for their first taste of a Florida hurricane.
The South Shore area bore the brunt of Jeanne's impact in Hillsborough County. Waves thrashed the yards of waterfront homes. Docks were destroyed, and the winds sent shingles flying. Scores of mobile homes were damaged. A few miles north in Apollo Beach, nearly half of the 500 mobile homes in the Caribbean Isles community were damaged.
"It did the typical thing these storms do. It may have damaged several in a row, and then there were several in a row that were not," said Marian Howcroft, a board member of the community's co-op. "We know that we had higher winds than they had in Tampa."
Houses were not spared. Nancy Humbaugh came home from a vacation to find shingles from her roof scattered across the Dolphin Cove neighborhood.
She filled two trash cans with shingles in an hour, but her work was only beginning. Rain had seeped through her roof and damaged the interior of her home. During Frances, the railing of second-story deck had collapsed. Jeanne ripped through the screen that protected her pool.
"The inspection people haven't been out yet from Frances. I guess I have to call them again," she said. "I'm sort of still in shock."
BRANDON
Janet Buckley commands attention at her house on Bell Shoals Road. Friends stop to see how she's doing. Tree services driving by pass out business cards.
It has been hard to miss the giant tree that crashed across her roof during Hurricane Jeanne. Buckley assures visitors that the impact has been harder to ignore inside.
Through the damaged roof, rain seeped through the walls and destroyed hardwood floors.
"I will be happy if were back - fine totally - by Christmas," Buckley said.
She counted the items on her to-do list on her fingers: Remove the drywall. Tear up the floor. Delve into what promises to be an ongoing discussion with her insurance inspectors.
First, remove that infernal tree once and for all.
If you need ice, water, food
In the wake of Hurricane Jeanne, Hillsborough County and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have set up comfort and water stations around east Hillsborough County.
Comfort stations, where residents can pick up ice, water and food from Metropolitan Ministries, are at:
* Brandon Recreation Center, 510 E Sadie St.
* Bealsville Recreation Center, 5009 Nesmith Road, Plant City
* Ruskin Neighborhood Service Center, 201 14th Ave. SE
* Seffner Historic Civic Center, 1209 S Kinsway Road
* Plant City Neighborhood Service Center, 702 N Alsobrook St.
* St. Clement Catholic Church, 1104 N Alexander St., Plant City
The Hillsborough County Water Department has also set up spigots at four fire hydrants for residents with wells but no electricity. The sites are:
* Riverview and Gibsonton: 7415 S U.S. 301, north of Stanford Street; and 9602 S U.S. 301, northeast of Boyette Road
* Seffner: 11605 E U.S. 92, southwest of Mango Road
* Plant City: at the Oakview Estates subdivision, north of Jim Johnson Road, near the intersection of Willow Drive and Laurel Lane.
Water is free to any resident with a container. For more information, call the county at 272-5900 or the Water Department at 272-6680.
