Storms Cause 2,600 Power Outages

BROOKSVILLE - The rain clouds didn't swerve past Hernando County Sunday.

In some areas, they hovered.

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative reported 2,600 power outages across Hernando County Sunday afternoon.

Residents were without power from 1:40 to 2:40 p.m. while workers repaired a circuit switcher that was damaged by lightning, said Withlacoochee spokesman David Lambert.

Most of the outages were reported near Sunshine Grove Road.

Other sections of Florida saw more than three inches of rain, including Naples and areas throughout Marion and Alachua counties, said National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Close.

"This is your typical summer season," he said. "We have a lot of sea breeze and when that happens, storms pop up. The air spreads out and that causes more."

The storms continued throughout Hernando and Citrus counties after sundown.

Forecasters have predicted wetter-than-normal conditions today and Tuesday.

Last night, Tampa was pelted with golf ball-sized hail and a flood advisory was announced for parts of Pinellas County.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bertha seemed likely to strengthen to hurricane status as it continued to pick up speed Sunday night. If forecasts are correct, Bertha would become the first Atlantic Ocean hurricane of the 2008 season.

The storm remained more than 1,000 miles east of Antigua as of 7:30 p.m. It was too early to determine whether it would affect any land masses, according to the National Weather Service.

Bertha was moving west at 20 miles per hour and included sustained winds of 50 mph or greater.