Rain Continues To Pummel Tampa Bay Area

19 Feb 2019

The big story for the Tampa Bay area lately has been the rain. After 11.7 inches of rain fell at the Tampa International Airport in all of July, the first day of August saw almost 3.5 inches of rain by 8 p.m. Saturday, a new record for Aug. 1. More than just flooding power outages occurred with each line of passing storms.

“We just haven’t had a chance to dry out,” said Jean Duncan, Tampa’s director of Transportation and Storm Water Operations and Maintenance. “With this volume of water on top of all that, we’re just seeing flooding all over the city.”

Tampa Electric Co. reported 2,055 people without power in an area south of Gandy Boulevard in South Tampa on Saturday afternoon.

The Lois Avenue ramp at Interstate 275 was closed due to high water during the afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol reported and Bayshore Boulevard looked like it had been annexed by Tampa Bay.

A flood warning remains in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday for Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Hernando, Citrus and Levy counties. Flood warnings are also in effect for the Little Manatee River in Wimauma and Cypress Creek in northern Hillsborough County.

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