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TECO, Progress Energy Restore Power After Violent Storms

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 7, 2008

Updated: 07/07/2008 04:13 pm

TAMPA - Tampa Electric Co. today finished restoring power to the six hundred still without electricity this morning after Sunday's violent storms, TECO spokesman Rick Morera said this afternoon.

The bulk of the customers were in a swath of western Hillsborough County extending from the Carrollwood and Lutz area south to the Interbay neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, Progress Energy has restored power to the 2,000-plus customers in Pinellas and Pasco counties affected by Sunday evening's violent storms, company spokeswoman Sarah Varga said.

Morera said that at the height of the outages roughly 10,000 TECO customers lost power in western Hillsborough County. That number was cut to 4,500 by 10 p.m. Sunday and stood at 600 this morning, he said.

In Hernando County, the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative has restored power to all but a few customers, spokesman David Lambert said. Roughly 2,600 customers went without power Sunday afternoon while workers repaired a circuit switcher that was damaged by lightning.

Some sections of Florida saw more than 3 inches of rain during Sunday's storms, including Naples and areas throughout Marion and Alachua counties, said National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Close. Tampa was pelted with golf-ball-size hail, and a flood advisory was issued for parts of Pinellas County.

"This is your typical summer season," Close said. "We have a lot of sea breeze, and when that happens, storms pop up, the air spreads out -- and that causes more."

Forecasters have predicted wetter-than-normal conditions for today and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bertha has become Hurricane Bertha.

As of 5 a.m., Bertha was about 845 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say it is too early to say whether or where the storm will hit land.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Hernando Today reporter Tony Holt contributed to this report. Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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