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Tampa Bay region hit by more heavy rains, looks for relief

 
Vehicles stall in high water Monday morning on Platt Street in Tampa.
Vehicles stall in high water Monday morning on Platt Street in Tampa.
Published Aug. 11, 2015

Four feet of water flooded the couple's yard, overflow from a lake swollen with rain. On Monday morning, every room in their New Port Richey home filled with 2 inches of water.

"It's been a slow torture watching the water get higher and higher," said Monique Annas, 35. All of the family's belongings aside from hanging clothes, she said, were ruined. Their vents leaked; their carpets came undone. They used a kayak to salvage what they could.

Similar scenes played out across Tampa Bay on Monday as another day of heavy rain shut down roads from MacDill Air Force Base in South Tampa to neighborhoods in the Anclote River basin in Elfers. Rescue workers shuttled seniors from retirement centers by boat, cars stalled in flooded intersections and a swimming pool popped out of a saturated Pasco County back yard.

"I don't recall this amount of rainfall, ever, without having a named system," said Jim Van Fleet, WTSP 10Weather meteorologist. "For something that has stretched out 10 days, I don't recall it in 21 years of doing weather."

Many areas have reported nearly 15 inches of rain in the past 10 days or so, more than many tropical storms deliver. But Van Fleet said relief is coming today, despite continued scattered showers, as the system responsible for the deluge moves north and the region returns to its regular pattern of afternoon storms. Even so, he said, floodwater will linger.

"Hopefully this break will give us the help we need," Van Fleet said. "But I think we're going to have soggy ground for some time to come."

The unrelenting rain made a litany of roads impassable in recent days, including the new Interstate 275 exit to West Shore Boulevard. The Gandy Bridge was closed for an hour Sunday morning, as was the intersection of West Shore and Gandy boulevards, for about 13 hours.

Though the bridges are inspected and maintained regularly, there's only so much that can be done in the face of extreme weather, said Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kris Carson.

"This has probably been a good drill for everyone, to be honest," Carson said. "It's just the amount of rainfall. We can't do anything about that."

In future heavy rain scenarios, Carson encouraged people to leave early to avoid flooded and closed roads, including bridges.

In Tampa, police and fire officials scrambled to close more than 40 streets as they flooded Monday. The closures backed up streets that remained open. On Kennedy Boulevard, traffic crawled if it moved at all. Stalled cars on side streets sat in water up to their doors.

Monday's rain stretched Tampa to its limit, Mayor Bob Buckhorn said at a news conference. Stormwater plants handled three times more water than usual — more than drainage pipes could hold.

Especially in South Tampa, which Buckhorn called the "ground zero" of flooding, people hunkered in, staying home from work and canceling appointments.

While she loaded up her sandbags at a pickup spot in Jackson Heights, Cynthia Reyes said she had never seen flooding so bad in her 20 years in Tampa.

"We woke up to a disaster this morning," she said. Her home had flooded, and her pool was threatening to overflow, she said. Standing water almost blocked her driveway.

Eight to 10 families were evacuated by boat from Raintree Apartments near the University of South Florida, Hillsborough fire officials said. Fifty Hillsborough sheriff's deputies were dispatched to flooded areas, including hard-hit Town 'N Country.

In Port Richey, Minnie Jaresky left her home of 33 years at the Suncoast Gateway Mobile Village and, barefoot, boarded a rescue boat bound for shelter. More than a dozen other elderly residents did the same.

Keith and JoAnn Anderson left their home at the mobile park after being told flooding would only worsen. Keith Anderson, 80, has Parkinson's disease and needs an oxygen tank. Without family in the area, the couple decided it would be safer to wait out the flooding in a shelter.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said deputies reached out to nearly 500 residents, urging them to evacuate. The Anclote River in the Elfers area rose to 23 feet, and officials predicted it would reach 26.1 on today, nearing its record of 27 feet in 1945.

In Holiday in southwest Pasco County, the downpours caused a ground swell that lifted a backyard pool out of the earth. Carlos Manuel Iglesia said he heard a loud popping sound at 3:30 a.m. and soon saw that the pool had risen. His family quickly evacuated.

"It's sad, being out in the streets with nothing," Minerva Iglesia said, her eyes filling with tears. "You don't think it will happen to you."

Gov. Rick Scott visited Pasco to survey the flooding in the Elfers area Monday evening. He toured the neighborhood, assessed road damage and spoke with evacuated residents in a shelter.

"We're going to do what we can to make sure these families get their lives back," Scott said.

In Palm Harbor, Pinellas deputies used boats and Humvees to help evacuate about 40 people, some of them children, from two RV parks.

"Those people had no choice. They had to get out," Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said. "It was a very dangerous situation."

Gualtieri said this is the worst weather event that Pinellas has faced in recent years.

"There's no doubt," he said.

Downpours at Tampa International Airport meant 106 departures and 74 arrivals were delayed and two flights were canceled.

Lowry Park Zoo, Busch Gardens, Adventure Island and the Tampa Museum of Art closed for the day. Hillsborough Community College closed two campuses. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers canceled practice.

Hundreds of people lost power, and roads became speckled with potholes and depressions. Golf courses and major intersections swelled into murky lakes.

Van Fleet forecast another major storm system coming Sunday and Monday after the area has had some time to dry out. But he said the area would need up to 10 days to get back to normal. With rain that surpassed Tropical Storm Debby levels in 2012, he said it will take time.

Contact Claire McNeill at cmcneill@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8321. Times staff writers Laura C. Morel, Shaker Samman, Caitlin Johnston and Zachary T. Sampson contributed to this report.