Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Utility companies blame fallen trees but fail to appease thousands who threw out food, endured cold showers and called repeatedly.
By LISA GREENE
© St. Petersburg Times, published September 17, 2001
More than 48 hours after Tropical Storm Gabrielle passed, thousands of Tampa Bay area residents remained without power Sunday afternoon.
They had lighter wallets because of all the restaurant meals they ate and empty refrigerators because of all the food they discarded. They also had a lot of frustration and anger.
All Pinellas customers and many customers elsewhere had their power restored by Sunday night, but only after a day full of complaints about area power companies.
"They said it's not their fault; it's a natural disaster," said St. Petersburg resident Peggy Ross. "But the disaster is over. It's strictly incompetence."
Ross was still without power at 4 p.m. Sunday, two days after the storm hit. Power companies said the storm snapped numerous tree limbs and small power lines across a wide area, so repairs took a lot of time.
At one point Sunday afternoon, Florida Power still had about 1,500 south Pinellas customers without power, though its customers in north Pinellas, Pasco and Citrus had power. In Hillsborough County, about 1,500 customers of Tampa Electric Co. were without power earlier in the day, as were 150 Florida Power customers in Hernando County. About 50 customers of Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative were without power.
By Sunday night, though, Florida Power said all of its storm outages had been repaired, and TECO hoped to have everyone restored by this morning. Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, which serves parts of Pasco, Hernando and Citrus counties, also had restored all of its power.
The worst power loss was south of the Sunshine Skyway, where Florida Power & Light said 21,000 customers in Manatee and Sarasota counties remained without power as of 9 p.m. Sunday. Electricity was expected to be restored by this morning.
Customers throughout Tampa Bay blamed the power companies.
"I certainly understand their frustration," said Nancy Loehr, community relations manager for Florida Power Corp. "Sometimes these storms that sneak up on you are worse than those you have time to prepare for."
Angry customers couldn't understand why so many homes lost power and why the lines took so long to repair. More than 500,000 utility customers across the state lost electricity.
"We all are going to be in trouble if there's a major hurricane," said Ross, who used to live in Fort Lauderdale. "I went through Hurricane Andrew and had power back on in 24 hours. This is kind of scary that we can't get our act together."
Ross' husband and daughter decorated their home with banners complaining about Florida Power Corp. She and others talked about spoiled food, cold showers and broken promises that their power would return any moment.
"They said within a few hours, then 6 p.m. Saturday, then midnight, then Sunday morning, then noon," said Estella Jackson, who lives at 58th Avenue NE in St. Petersburg. "We were very, very unhappy."
George Syrene, who lives on 61st Avenue S, said he is buying a generator. His power didn't come back until 10:30 a.m. Sunday.
"I don't trust electric companies any more," he said. "A little storm like that, and two and a half days without electricity."
Florida Power's response was slower because Gabrielle abruptly changed course and sped up, Loehr said. The company called in extra crews from North Carolina, but they were still in Georgia when the storm hit.
"The majority of our customers were right back on," Loehr said. "We'll regroup after the storm and do better next time."
In Hillsborough, TECO spokesman Ross Bannister said the drought weakened tree limbs, making them fall easily all over the county, often on minor power lines, so that each repair restored power to only a handful of homes.
"It's scattered like birdseed," he said.
Bannister didn't get power back at his own home in Tampa's Seminole Heights neighborhood until Sunday afternoon.
In St. Petersburg, Coquina Key resident Iris Canley began washing clothes and cooking Sunday dinner -- fried chicken, pork chops, okra and tomatoes -- as soon as her power returned at 2 p.m.
To add to her frustration, Canley said, her neighbors across the street got their lights back on Friday evening. All she could do was look wistfully across the street, thinking, "What's wrong with my power, that it didn't come back on?"
- Staff writer Katherine Gazella contributed to this report.