Hermine: Flooding, power outages, just 1 death Fiercest winds hit sparse area

Hermine: Flooding, power outages, just 1 death

Fiercest winds hit sparse area

BY JENNY STALETOVICH AND KRISTEN CLARK Miami Herald

MIAMI — Florida began digging out of the soggy mess left by Hurricane Hermine on Friday after the state’s first hurricane in a decade roared ashore near the tiny Big Bend town of St. Marks.

Carving a path that stretched from Tampa to the Panhandle, the storm battered the state but claimed only one life despite delivering dangerously high storm surge.

Trees toppled, boats washed ashore and power lines fell, initially leaving more than a quarter-million people in the dark. A homeless man in Marion County died when a tree branch fell on his tent. The Sunshine Skyway shut down for a day. In Cedar Key, a clam shop burned down. One upside: the fiercest winds near the storm’s eye hit a sparsely populated pocket of the coast, between a wildlife sanctuary and a national park.

The damage will likely take days to fully assess, as businesses and homeowners begin the work of cleaning up flooded property.

One thing will put Hermine in the record books: It ended the state’s 11-year lucky streak.

Wilma was the last hurricane to strike in 2005, a lethal storm that caused more than $2 billion in damage. Five deaths were blamed on the storm and about 6 million people lost power. Damage from Hermine across Florida and the East Coast could total $1 billion, according to Boston-based risk assessor Karen Clark & Co.

Hermine arrived about 1:30 a.m. at the worst possible time: high tide. In Cedar Key, water rose nearly 10 feet above low tide, the fifth-highest level ever recorded in the islands, said Brian McNoldy, a University of Miami hurricane researcher. Seawater surged ashore, tumbling docks and carrying mud and debris. But weather-hardened residents emerged largely unscathed.

“There was no loss of life,” Joseph Cannon, whose business was destroyed by a fire, told WUFT. “These people are tough; everybody will come out of it.”

Because of the curving shoreline, storm surge in the Big Bend can be more treacherous, said McNoldy.

“If it approaches a flat coast, you’ll still get storm surge but some portion of the water is free to move along the coast. It’s not 100 percent pushed on shore,” he said. “But when you have a coast line shaped like this, like a cup, that can really make a storm surge a lot worse.”

By daylight, some streets remained flooded. In Pasco County, 18 people trapped in their homes were rescued with high-water vehicles. A coastal road collapsed east of Apalachicola. Residents waded through ankle deep water from Bradenton to the Panhandle.

In St. Marks, a Gulf port founded by the Spanish and slammed by Hurricane Dennis in 2005, residents breathed a sigh of relief to find trees and power lines down but no severe damage.

There was “a lot of wind” and some rain overnight, said City Manager Zoe Mansfield, but conditions were far less dire than predicted. Storm surge in the town 20 miles south of Tallahassee only reached about 3 feet, she said, leaving minimal flooding and no widespread damage.

“We all feel very lucky,” Mansfield said.

St. Marks, like the rest of Wakulla County, remained without power by midmorning, but Mansfield expected to have power restored by later in the day or today.

As the storm moved over land, winds quickly slowed. By 2 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said sustained speeds had dropped to 50 mph. Tropical storm warnings were discontinued for Florida and shifted to the East Coast for the Labor Day weekend. Friday night, a tropical storm warning extended into Delaware, New Jersey and New York, which were bracing for a storm that could regain strength Sunday.

About 99 percent of Wakulla County’s residents lost electricity. In Leon County, 68 percent lost power.

Florida Power & Light reported customers without electricity from Jacksonville to Tampa, but said overall a newly hardened grid kept the lights on. By Friday morning, FPL had restored power to 76,000 with about 10,000 still without electricity, said spokesman Bryan Garner.

In Tallahassee, which is not serviced by FPL, Mayor Andrew Gillum said downed trees had blocked many major streets and outages were “pretty ubiquitous.” Gillum estimated as many as 100,000 local residents lost electricity, including 70,000 city customers.

Friday afternoon 80 percent of the city’s grid was still without power, affecting roughly 67,600 customers.

“Crews are working diligently to assess the damage caused by Hermine. Full power restoration could take several days,” the city said via Twitter.

At close to the storm’s peak about 2 a.m., about 70,000 customers quickly lost power in Tallahassee. Talquin Electric Cooperative, a rural electric provider in parts of North Florida, reported 37,800 customers without power across Leon, Wakulla, Gadsden and Liberty counties at 5:30 a.m. In Georgia, about 30,000 lost power as the storm moved into the state early Friday.

Florida State University, which canceled classes Thursday, also lost power and won’t likely have it restored until Sunday.

In the Tampa area, heavy rain caused widespread flooding. Over the last 72 hours, some areas received more than 22 inches, the National Weather Service reported. Downed trees and power lines made driving treacherous, law enforcement authorities warned.

More than 50 shelters were opened, Gov. Rick Scott said, where about 300 sought shelter from the storm.

Schools and state offices will also remained closed, he said, with classes canceled in 35 counties.