August 26, 2004
By BRADY DENNIS and JAMIE THOMPSON

Photo: Partly submerged, a Mazda rests in an Ybor City ditch, which driver Marie Humphrey says she did not see during the storm. She veered off the road and got stuck. It was "scary," she said.

Violent thunderstorms swept across Tampa Bay on Wednesday night, turning streets into rivers, starting one house fire, flooding Ybor City businesses and leaving thousands without power in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

It was a typical summer storm, with one wrinkle. The rain kept falling. And falling. And falling.

Up to 4 inches of rain drenched downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg from 6 to 9 p.m., according to radar estimates by the National Weather Service.

At 6 p.m., lightning was striking the area at a rate of about 1,500 times every 15 minutes, meteorologists said. The number slowly tapered, and by 7 p.m., it was about 500 to 600 strikes every 15 minutes. Lightning was believed to be the cause of a fire that destroyed a home in South Tampa, fire officials said. No serious injuries were reported.

Victor Short, 68, had just returned from Palma Ceia United Methodist Church Wednesday evening when he got a call from a fellow church member whose car had stalled in the flood. He left to go help, not realizing that lightning had struck the roof of his house at 4204 W. Sevilla St., where he has lived since 1967.

When he returned, he found the street clogged with firetrucks and his home in flames. The blaze had caught in the roof and spread throughout the house, destroying the most of the building and contents.

Short said afterward he was worried about what happened to his two cats, Katie and Target.

"It hasn't hit me yet," he said, as he stared at the smoldering building. "Charley missed me; lightning got me."

Elsewhere, nickel-sized hail was reported, and winds gusted up to 40 mph.

"It just exploded," said Dick Kamp, a hydrometeorological technician with the National Weather Service.

At one point, the storm cut power to as many as 13,000 Tampa Electric Co. customers across Hillsborough County.

In Pinellas, frantic drivers dialed 911 after their cars were stranded on flooded streets. Patrol cars got stuck while trying to help, and everyone was forced to sit tight until the rains receded, dispatchers said. Three to 4 feet of water covered some roads, including Fourth Street N and 34th Street N.

More than 5,400 customers lost power in St. Petersburg, as did 1,766 in Largo and 544 in Clearwater, said Progress Energy spokeswoman Lisa Junkerman. Workers were trying to restore power late Wednesday, she said.

National Weather Service officials in Ruskin said a weak low-pressure system combined with upper-level energy to produce Wednesday's storms.

Meteorologist Ryan Sharp said the remnants of previous storm fronts, coming from both the north and the south, collided "right over Hillsborough, Polk and Pinellas."

The floods along Seventh Avenue near Centro Ybor poured right into some businesses, even the ones that used sandbags left over from hurricane preparations.

"It happened all of a sudden," said Rick Thomas, owner of Sweet Serennah bakery, as he swept ankle-deep water out his front door. At one point, water outside the back door was up to his waist, he said. It's the fourth time his business has flooded.

Across the street, workers as the Amphitheatre nightclub were sweeping out, too.

"It just kept coming in," said employee Nathan Snyder. A few streets north, Marie Humphrey sat in her husband's truck, her eyes full of tears. Her Mazda 626 sat mostly submerged in a nearby ditch. She had veered off the road, unable to see, and gotten stuck.

She described the experience only as "scary" and said, "I just can't even talk right now."

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/08/26/Weather/Storm__just_exploded_.shtml