The dire wind and rain predictions in Hernando County never came true, to the relief of county residents and officials.

It’s a cliché to say it, but the area dodged a bullet.

“We were very blessed here,” said Hernando County Administrator Jeff Rogers. “Fortunately, the storm did make a turn to the south of us and we’re praying for those individuals south of us that are going through some harsh times with the catastrophic effects that are happening down there.”

The winds are dying down, the rain has stopped and we can look forward to a couple of days of dry conditions, Rogers said.

The county will continue to monitor the Withlacoochee River since it was near flood stage before the storm passed.

Mandatory evacuations were removed on Thursday morning, he said, and officials felt it was safe for people to start returning to their homes, but are cautioned to watch out for fallen debris, powerlines, and work and repair crews.

-Getting the lights on

A big concern for residents is the loss of electrical power during a storm and its restoration afterwards.

Heather Danenhower, a spokeswoman for Duke Energy, said the utility saw significant outages across 35 counties, with its largest customer bases in St. Petersburg and Orlando.

There were about 200 outages in HernandoCounty, she said. It will take time to restore power, beginning with assessing the damage, starting with life-essential services like hospitals and fire stations, then transmission lines, and finally restoring power in residential neighborhoods.

To report an outage, call 800-228-8485, she said.

“You could see powerlines down,” she said. “We always recommend that you assume those powerlines are live. Report them to us and we’ll make sure to get a professional out there to take care of that for you.”

And be careful around standing water, Danenhower added.

David Gonzalez of the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative said his utility provides service in five counties, and 20,339 members out. “Our crews have already been out, assessing the damage as we speak,” he said. “Most of them started a couple of hours ago.”

In Hernando, there are 2,652 members out, Gonzalez said, and in Pasco County 13,507 are out. In Citrus County, there are 3,589 members out, in Polk County 425 members are out and in Sumter County 166 members are out.

Stay far away from downed powerlines and transformers, he said, and consider them to be “hot.”

“There’s many people that are killed after these types of storms that go in areas where they shouldn’t be, going across downed powerlines and not realizing those lines are energized,” he said.

County utilities

Gordon Onderdonk, the county’s utilities director, said everyone in the county has water and sewer service, and the treatment plants are operating normally. Trash collection will resume tomorrow.

“There are no boil water notices at this time,” he said.

The landfill and convenience centers will be opening Friday with normal business hours, he said, and trash collection will resume Friday as well.

County Emergency Manager Jim Coleman said crews from the Community Services Department are going out to assess damage, and can be identified by ID badges and tags on vehicles.

“Be aware that probably the ‘bad actors’ are going to be going south where some of the more severe impacts of the storm occurred, but there are ‘bad actors’ that go out and pose as government inspectors or people that are contractors.”

Make reports to the county at 352-754-4083, he said.

If you call in flood or tree damage, he added, be sure to include details, including if the tree is blocking the road.

Little damage seen

On a drive through the eastern part of Hernando on Thursday morning, little damage was seen aside from palm tree debris in the roads, and there was no flooding.

“Call our information line if you have any questions,” Rogers said.

Danenhower said full power restoration might take a while in hardest-hit areas.