Fierce storms ripped through Citrus County both today and on Wednesday as a strong front pushed in from the Gulf of Mexico and throttled 14 counties in southwest Florida.

Storm reports steadily piled up, with damage being reported from all corners of Citrus County - wind, rain, lightning, downed trees and power lines. No area of the county escaped some impact from the intruding storm. Damages even extended into Inglis.

By 10 a.m. today, meteorologists had reported winds estimated at 50 mph, and the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the county stretching from 10:47 a.m. to 1 p.m. Local weather forecasters also reported that some areas of the county had received an estimated 3 to 4 inches of rain, and that the storm had been so intense and widespread that at one point, it couldn't be determined which area of the county was hit hardest.

Rain totals continued to climb throughout the day, with areas like county airports seeing rising waters, as well as in areas of downtown Inverness, Crystal River and Homosassa. Crystal River Rehab this morning had called for 20 sandbags to help stem the waters, and MacRae's reported about 1 foot of water covering all of its parking lot as high-tide rushed into that area.

One RV park reported that water was up to the frames on the motor homes parked there, and at one point, Turner Camp Road was blocked by downed trees and power lines. Floral City was also a victim of storm debris and power woes.

According to Progress Energy, there were 2,056 outages at 2:15 p.m. in its electrical coverage area today, and SECO reported 1,603 outages in its Citrus County Service area.

A lightning strike is reported to have started a fire at a Wachovia Bank branch.

Useful links:

• Progress Energy Outage Map
• SECO Outage Report