Andrea causes minimal impact to county
BROOKSVILLE As tropical storms go, Andrea was pretty much a wash-out for Hernando County.
Unlike Tropical Storm Debby – which sloshed through Hernando County about one year ago and dumped some 15 inches of rain – Andrea was fast-moving and left behind about 3-5 inches.
Except for some ponding in low-lying areas near the coast, the rains did little more than make commutes a little slower and filled up some of the dry reservoirs around the county.
Emergency Management Director Cecilia Patella called it a “minimal rain event” and a good practice drill for the run-up of hurricane season.
“For Hernando County, it’s just a good warm-up for the processes and procedures to make sure things are in place,” Patella said.
The ground was not already saturated so was able to absorb most of the water from Andrea, Patella said.
Other counties in the region didn’t fare as well. Tornadoes touched down in Hillsborough and Sarasota counties.
Barring any late-hour drama from Andrea that would affect Hernando County, Patella said the local emergency workers would help other counties in the area if they need resources.
During the day, Hernando County experienced heavy rains offshore which caused low-lying flooding along Aripeka, Hammock Creek, Pine Island Drive and Tropical Drive.
Pine Island Beach was closed to ensure citizen and staff safety. At Weeki Wachee Springs State Park, all shows, boat tours and slides were closed.
Throughout Thursday, there was the possibility of damaging wind and tornados but nothing materialized. There was a noticeable fall-off of traffic on several area roads as people heeded emergency services personnel to stay indoors.
Late Thursday afternoon, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative reported 56 customers without power and Duke Energy one outage.
Pasco-Hernando Community College was scheduled to close all campuses at 4:30 p.m. Thursday and reopen at the normal time Monday.
The county’s emergency operations center was on partial activation Thursday and monitored the situation. No shelters opened and no sandbags distributed.
John McMichael, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Ruskin, said rain showers will continue Friday and Saturday but the worst appeared over for Hernando County.
At press time, Andrea was moving northeast at 15-18 mph and landfall was expected later Thursday near Levy County. The storm was then forecast to move northeast, moving across the northern part of the state and then accelerating along the eastern U.S. coast this weekend.
McMichael said Andrea was not in the same league as last year’s Tropical Storm Debby.
“This was a minimal tropical storm,” he said. “It never really got its act together.”
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