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Storms Pound Bay Area

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By GEORGE WILKENS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 20, 2008

TAMPA - Severe thunderstorms moved through the Tampa Bay area Saturday evening, prompting tornado watches and warnings, canceling outdoor Gasparilla-related events in Tampa, downing utility lines in Pasco County and knocking out power to an estimated 7,000 customers.

The National Weather Service reported the system produced a tornado that touched down at 5:26 p.m. in New Port Richey. A second tornado reported by the public, but unconfirmed by the weather service, touched down about 5:45 p.m. in the Weeki Wachee area of Hernando County.

No injuries were reported in either event, and no damage was reported in the Hernando County tornado, according to the weather service.

Utility lines were hit heavily in New Port Richey.

"We've been restoring power as the storms go through," Florida Progress Energy spokeswoman Deborah Shipley said Saturday evening. "We've been restoring as much as we can, as it's safe to do so."

Outage maps for the St. Petersburg-based utility indicate 2,321 outages occurred about 5:24 p.m. in the Beacon Square area near New Port Richey. Additional outages in that area, plus nearly 700 in Clearwater, brought the companywide total to about 5,000.
Tampa Electric Co. spokesman Rick Morera reported about 2,000 outages scattered throughout the utility's service area as a result of the storm.
New Port Richey police reported all six lanes of U.S. 19 were closed for about 15 minutes shortly after 7 p.m. while downed utility lines were restrung.

Some outages were caused when transformers were damaged in the storm, and another happened when an awning blown from a house struck power lines, a New Port Richey police dispatcher reported.

The strong line of thunderstorms heading toward the Bay area prompted the tornado watch from the National Weather Service's Ruskin office. A watch means conditions may be favorable for tornadoes to form. The watch that lasted until 10 p.m. included Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties.

The weather service warned residents to expect quick-moving storms, frequent lightning, moderate to heavy rain and high winds for several hours.

There was some local flooding, with areas receiving 2 inches of rain in an hour, said WFLA, News Channel 8 meteorologist Leigh Spann. "We got some needed rainfall. It looks like Hillsborough and Pinellas got the heaviest."

Wind gusts of up to 70 mph were recorded in some areas of Pinellas and Hillsborough.

The storms are expected to sweep in cooler, drier air for the Bay area today and early Monday.

"It's the same cold front that helped give snowfall to Alabama and Georgia," Spann said.

A winter advisory for the westernmost Florida Panhandle said to expect rain mixed with sleet and possibly snow. Accumulations are forecast to be no greater than an inch. Across central Alabama, however, residents awoke to a blanket of snow Saturday.

For the Bay area, Spann said, "It will be a chilly day, but it won't be frigid," with today's temperatures expected to be 10 degrees below average. In Tampa, the high this afternoon will be 61, dipping down into the low 40s tonight.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4847 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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