Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa FL (813) 655-8777 wrote:

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Tornado's Hit The Tampa Bay Area today guys, I have been w/o power since this morning, it just got restored.

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It just shot through here a while ago. Lots of wind, rain and lightning, but short lived.

My wife is on the phone with her mother in St Pete. If you got nailed in Tampa, St Pete probably did too?

Glad you are ok and got your power back!

Chuck

 

Bergman Roof Cleaning Port Charlotte FL 941-698-1959 wrote:

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Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa FL (813) 655-8777 wrote:

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Tornado's Hit The Tampa Bay Area today guys, I have been w/o power since this morning, it just got restored.

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It just shot through here a while ago. Lots of wind, rain and lightning, but short lived.

My wife is on the phone with her mother in St Pete. If you got nailed in Tampa, St Pete probably did too?

Glad you are ok and got your power back!

Chuck

 

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 Here is some of what hit us today!

By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 31, 2011

Updated: 24 min. ago

 

• Semi overturns on I-275

• TECO: 64,000 without power

• School custodian hit by lightning

Sun 'n Fun Fly-In closed to public

A strong storm system swept off the Gulf and battered the Tampa Bay area today.

Strong thunderstorms with torrential, blinding rain made their way beginning 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 were around all day.

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

HILLSBOROUGH

• The Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross mobilized volunteers and sent out damage assessment teams to seek out residents who needed help, spokeswoman Janet McGuire said. For assistance call 1-877-741-1444.

There was 3.99 inches of rain reported as of 8 p.m. at Tampa International Airport. It broke the former March 31 record of 2.69 inches of rain in 1931, said Tyler Fleming, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

• More than 64,000 of Tampa Electric Co.'s 667,000 customers faced outages as of 6 p.m. "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. Hillsborough County Sheriff David Gee assessed the area and said it appeared a tornado had struck the area. An estimated 25 homes were damaged and many weren't habitable. Power would not be restored in Progress Village on Thursday night. Gee said there were too many power lines down and it would be unsafe to restore it. He expects sheriff's helicopters to fly over the area in the morning to assess the damage. Additional deputies were being sent to Progress Village and would visit homes to see how people were doing. There was damage in Plant City and Thonotosassa but the damage in Progress Village was the most concentrated, Gee said.

• The South Tampa area of Interbay and Bayshore boulevards was hit hard with a number of buildings damaged. Emergency officials warned residents to stay indoors to avoid fallen power lines.

• 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 went 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.

Shelters opened at 6 p.m. In Tampa, the Red Cross opened a shelter at St. John's Presbyterian Church, 4120 N. MacDill Ave. HARTline buses are taking people to the shelter. People living in the Progress Village area can get the bus at 78th Street and Progress Village Boulevard. The buses will run until midnight. A shelter at Linoma Village Chapel has closed.

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

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

• 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. .

• 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 flooded because of leaky roofs and other reasons, university spokeswoman Vickie Chachere said. A TECO substation on campus was without power, but most of the campus had electricity, she said.

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 saw 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 was closed to high-profile vehicles such as large trucks and recreational vehicles for a time. The bridge has reopened. 

• 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 sandbag 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.

The Red Cross shelter at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Largo has closed.

Pinellas County Sheriff's Office closed Gulf Boulevard between 190th Avenue in Indian Shores to First Avenue in Indian Rocks Beach because of downed power lines, downed power poles and storm debris. Officials won't open the road until power lines and power poles are removed and power is restored. The road may open at noon Friday or later. Residents living in the area will be asked for proof of address to be allowed into the neighborhood, but officials can't guarantee they'll allow them in because of the danger posed by power lines.

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. The event will open at 8 a.m. Friday. Crews are on scene to clean up during the night. John Burton, Sun 'n Fun president, said the organization is coordinating with the Blue Angels to arrive on Friday.

• Polk County Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Lakeland Linder Regional Airport aviation school for residents affected by today's storm.

• 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.

 

We had a tornado pass right by us (not a direct hit) . I gotta admit. That was probably the first time that the weather has actually ever scared me.

A tractor trailer was over turned by it right down the road and landed on 2 cars. Luckily no one was hurt. We saw a bunch of light poles down and a couple of roofs ripped off. I couldn't even figure out where the roofs came from. Pretty scary stuff!!!

dollarspa wrote:

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Roof Cleaning Palm Harbor FL 727 543 3276 wrote:

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We had a tornado pass right by us (not a direct hit) . I gotta admit. That was probably the first time that the weather has actually ever scared me.

A tractor trailer was over turned by it right down the road and landed on 2 cars. Luckily no one was hurt. We saw a bunch of light poles down and a couple of roofs ripped off. I couldn't even figure out where the roofs came from. Pretty scary stuff!!!

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 Did they look familiar  ? maybe you just cleaned Them.........lol

 

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 David, Larry and I were on the phone when this shit started to come through our area (Larry is 30 miles away) We were both scared! The sky grew Greenish Black in the day time, and trees were bending/cracking.