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While mopping and wringing, residents say they feel lucky

By ELENA LESLEY
Published June 15, 2006

CRYSTAL RIVER -- Residents mopped up soaked floors and ripped out soggy carpets throughout the city Wednesday.

And many said they felt lucky.

"We really dodged a bullet," said Kurt Woerner, acting public works director. "It was a really good feeling when I could call other officials and say, 'The water's going down.' "

Tuesday afternoon, things weren't looking good for Crystal River. Water had continued to rise during low tide, creeping toward City Hall and sending homeowners scrambling for sandbags.

Woerner had feared there would be 3 feet of water in City Hall.

"The wind is pushing in on a full moon during high tide," he said a little after 3 p.m. that day. "Everything that could be working against you is."

But within the next couple of hours, the water started to recede. Tropical Storm Alberto had not hit Citrus County with the force predicted.

"There were a minimal number of houses damaged and public facilities were saved," Woerner said. "The biggest expense will probably be street sweeping and storm sewer cleanup."

Woerner said the city was trying to determine whether it would meet the threshold for FEMA reimbursement.

Officials said they would probably have an answer today.

While the storm's impact was less severe than expected, Woerner said some local business owners could have made things worse.

Instead of evacuating and closing shop when the city's lift stations were turned off, they continued using sewer services.

"When you ignore that order and flush restroom products, it basically ends up in other businesses or peoples' houses," he said.

He said in the future, the city might want to enact a policy where "either people comply with the evacuation or they pay a heavy penalty."

Virginia Tomaselli said she didn't leave her house on NW Ninth Avenue, but she probably will next time.

"We've been here nine years, and this is the first time we've been hit," said Tomaselli, who had water leak into the back of her house.

She resented others who came down the street, which was badly hit, to sightsee.

"A woman came down here with her five kids and they were all swimming around," she said.

Just a little down the block, Tomaselli's neighbor Rob Schoene was airing out his home. Wet mattresses leaned against the house, and shredded carpet lay stacked in the front yard.

A pair of tennis shoes sat in the window drying.

"We're the lowest-lying house on the block," said Schoene, who added the water had reached as high as 1¹/₂ feet inside.

Schoene and his friends had sandbagged the outside, but it did little good.

"There was no stopping it," Schoene said of the water. It streamed in through the back door while he and his friends sat around playing spades.

"It was like 65 miles per hour," he said.

Charlie Slider, owner of Manatee Tour and Dive, took advantage of the flooding.

As water seeped into his shop, he decided to go boating.

"I went kayaking in Yeoman's Park, just because I could," he said. "Not too many people can say they've been kayaking there."

Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 15, 2006, 07:09:12]