Florida: Massive Storms flip trucks, planes; bring tornadoes, power outages

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

Perilous Times and Climate Change

Florida: Massive Storms flip trucks, planes; bring tornadoes, power outages

By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

• Semi overturns on I-275

• TECO: 88,000 without power

• School custodian hit by lightning

• Tornado watch until 8 p.m.

Sun 'n Fun Fly-In closed to public

A strong storm system sweeping off the Gulf is battering the Tampa Bay area today.

Strong thunderstorms with torrential, blinding rain made their way this morning from coastal Pasco and Hernando counties inland and to the south. A heavy squall pounded Pinellas and Hillsborough counties about midday. The storms will be around all day.

A tornado watch was extended for Pinellas, Polk, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota and Highlands counties until 8 p.m.

Here is a county-by-county look at the events.

HILLSBOROUGH

• The Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross is mobilizing volunteers and sending out damage assessment teams to seek out residents who need help, spokeswoman Janet McGuire said. The shelters will be open this afternoon, she said. For assistance people can call 1-877-741-1444.

• More than 88,000 of Tampa Electric Co.'s 667,000 customers are facing outages. "Obviously what we're seeing is related to this weather coming through – there's no doubt about that," TECO spokesman Rick Morera said about noon. He said major outages are occurring throughout the coverage area – and that "it appears the South Tampa area is getting hit pretty good."

Flooding and storm damage closed roads: Interbay Boulevard between MacDill Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard; Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard between MacDill and Armenia avenues; northbound Bayshore one lane at Rome Avenue; Hillsborough Avenue between Hanley and Sawyer roads.

Widespread damage in Progress Village including trees and power lines down and shingles torn from roofs.

• The South Tampa area of Interbay and Bayshore boulevards was hit hard with a number of buildings damaged. Emergency officials are warning residents to stay indoors to avoid fallen power lines. Officials anticipate the area will be closed until late afternoon.

• The canopy over gas pumps at a convenience store was shredded and tiles were ripped from the roof of one Interbay business.

• A downed power line, parts of a tree and shreds of a wooden fence were on Mickey Keenan's property on Interbay Boulevard. "I didn't have any trees. All these trees flew in from somewhere. This fence, I don't know where it came from,'' said the 37-year-old attorney.

• Firefighters are going door to door on West Tyson Street in South Tampa asking people to leave and helping them to evacuate.

• Flooding was a problem, particularly in South Tampa. Parts of Cleveland Street, Azeele Street and Swann Avenue were close to impassable.

• U.S. 301 will be closed until 7 or 8 p.m. from Bill Tucker Road south to 19th Avenue Northeast while workers repair five power lines that were snapped in half or are in danger of falling.

• There was an unofficial sighting of a tornado touchdown down on Bloomingdale Avenue in Riverview just after noon.

• The Hillsborough County school system cancelled all after school activities for today, including indoor and outdoor athletic events, night school and evening meetings. Charter schools will decide individually about closings.

School officials anticipate classes ending at their normal time today. If weather is bad, principals will decide whether to delay dismissing classes.

• The Tampa Parks and Recreation Department canceled after-school activity programs and all other activities for the day, including adult and youth classes and sports leagues.

• The storms were delaying flights in and out of Tampa International Airport by 45 minutes. Airport officials said residents could notice different air traffic patterns as controllers direct flights around thunderstorms. Low clouds also will amplify noise from aircraft as they reflect the sound back to the ground, officials said.

• There were no reports of damage at Hillsborough schools. The district sent an email notice to all schools, warning of possible tornadoes. The email told county schools to review emergency procedures that include having students stay in classes and away from windows. Also, some county school buses, especially in northwest Hillsborough, may be delayed.

• The National Weather Service also received several reports of tornadoes on the ground in northwest Hillsborough, particularly around Odessa and Lutz.

• The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office reported a number of trees and power lines knocked down, including lines across Seffner Valrico Road and Cactus Circle; West Wheeler Road and South Parsons Avenue; and Ravenwood and Orange Lawn drives.

• A possible transformer fire was reported at 911 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

• Several shipping containers blew over at the Port of Tampa, Port Authority spokesman Andy Fobes said. He described damage as minor and said that though there had been some downed power lines, the port is open.

• Six buildings at the main campus of the University of South Florida have flooded because of leaky roofs and other reasons, university spokeswoman Vickie Chachere said. A TECO substation on campus is without power, but most of the campus has electricity, she said.

Classes have not been canceled, but USF officials told students to not worry about attendance today because of the weather.

A possible tornado overturned a semi tractor trailer on Interstate 75 about 11:50 a.m. into the path of a pickup truck that collided with the flipped trailer. There were no serious injuries, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

•Several days of heavy rains has left area rivers at elevated levels. The Little Manatee River at Wimauma is expected to rise to above flood stage by late afternoon or early evening Friday. Cypress Creek at Worthington Gardens is also expected to rise to flood stage by Saturday afternoon.

PASCO

• A custodian at Gulfside Elementary School in Holiday was hit by lightning about 8:10 a.m. The custodian, whose name has not yet been released, was taken to a local hospital.

"The person was alert; they were transported as a precautionary measure and responsive to EMS," said Summer Romagnoli, a school district spokeswoman.

• Heavy rain, some falling up to 4 inches an hour, flooded roads in Pasco, including U.S. 19 around Grand Boulevard and State Road 54. Also, Moog Road around Dove Drive was closed.

• The weather service reported trees down near River Ridge Boulevard in Pasco and there were reports of trees down at an apartment complex near U.S. 19 and State Road 54.

• Pasco County school buses ran 30 minutes late to let the worst of the storms pass, a school official said. The county's automated telephone system started notifying parents at 7:30 a.m. All schools were open, Jeff Morgenstein, a district supervisor, said.

• The school district has seen down tree limbs but no major storm damage, Romagnoli said. "There have been intermittent power issues," she said. "But they've been fixed."

• The storms closed Pasco-Hernando Community College, and students and faculty members were told not to come to class.

PINELLAS

• Several planes were flipped upside-down at St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport, officials said.

• The Sunshine Skyway has been closed to high-profile vehicles such as large trucks and recreational vehicles.  The bridge is open for other types of vehicles.Â

• Some people had to be rescued from an elevator in downtown St. Petersburg because of a power outage.

• Utilities reported thousands of customers without power in Pinellas.

• The city of Tarpon Springs set up a sand bag station at the City Marina at the end of the sponge docks on Dodecanese Boulevard in anticipation of a high tide at 11:42 a.m. and more heavy rain approaching the area.

POLK

• The weather service received a report that a tornado touched down about 9:18 a.m. near Kathleen in Polk County and was heading east at 60 mph. Four tornadoes were confirmed by county officials.

• Emergency officials closed the Sun 'n Fun Fly-In at Lakeland Linder Airport to the public and asked people there to leave. The roof of a large tent collapsed with 70 people inside. Officials reported six people from the tent were taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center for treatment.

• There are reports of power outages. Emergency management officials are advising residents not to call 911 to report power line issues and power outages.

• Power outages have caused traffic signals to stop working. County officers remind motorists to treat intersections with a traffic signal outage as a four-way stop.