Power Outages This Morning?

It was about 4:45 am Tuesday when the light on the walkway outside my window went out. It wasn’t the first time the power failed in my apartment building on Rowan Road this morning. But it stayed off longer than I expected.

I thought of the cold weather.

“We’re screwed,” is the sanitized version of what went through the New Port Richey Patch editor’s head. “At least we’re not too far from dawn.”

An uncounted period of minutes afterward, the power returned.

Progress Energy reported very small patches of outages in West Pasco County in the early morning Tuesday. 

According to an online map, about 77 Progress Energy customers were affected by a 4:33 a.m. power outage. The map identifies it as being in the Gulf Drive area. Power was estimated to be restored by 8:30 a.m.

Nine customers off U.S. 19 south of Sunray Drive in Holiday were affcted by an outage around 6 a.m. Power was estimated to return by 9:30 a.m.

According to the map, 17 customers in an area identified as the Bailie's Bluff Road region of Holiday were affected by an outage just before 3 a.m. Power was estimated to return by 8 a.m., according to the map.

A power outage at 6:19 a.m was reported to affect one customer on Trouble Creek and Little Road. Power was estimated to return by 9:30 a.m.

I was lucky. I was only briefly left in the cold and dark. Anyone know anybody who wasn’t so fortunate or was otherwise inconvenienced?

The National Weather Service expects temperatures to reach a high of 47 in our aea during the daylight hours today. Temperatures could dip to a low of 27 in our area tonight, Jan.3, with wind blowing between 5 and 11 mph. A hard freeze warning is in effect for west centra and southwest Florida through Wednesday morning.

Pasco County opened its Monday night, and the shelters are expected to open again tonight, Jan. 3, at 6 p.m.

They are:

• Hope Lutheran Church: 123221 Canton Ave. in Hudson. Families accepted. Call: 727-243-1367.
• The Holy Ground Shelter: 8835 Denton Ave. in Hudson. Families accepted.
• The Christian Church: 34921 Chauncy Road in Zephyrhills. Families accepted. Call: 813-810-8670.
• Impact Family Ministries: 5533 River Gulf Road in Port Richey. Families accepted. Call: 727-869-6426.