ZEPHYRHILLS — Sometime in the weekend's wee hours, as Saturday segued into Sunday, the pecuniary bombshell shaped like a Powerball landed about 300 yards from their porches. 
 
 Christine Douglas and Raybelle Surratt, octogenarian best friends and virtual Zephyrhills lifers, heard the news first via television, then via frantic phone calls from grandkids: 
 
 One ticket to a record-setting Powerball, estimated at more than $590 million, was sold at the Publix at Zephyr Commons, 7838 Gall Blvd. 
 
 Both stepped outside their tidy first-floor apartments in the new retirement facility resting on a hill above Pretty Pond Road. Suddenly, they saw the earth's media epicenter had shifted to the shopping plaza on the northern fringe of town. 
 
 Down there in the parking lot, where dairyman Fred Gore's cows grazed a generation ago, TV trucks were parked and satellite dishes were erected. 
 
 "We had quite a conference about it," said Surratt, whose late husband, Sam, served on the Zephyrhills City Council for 21 years. "They could have sent us our money by zip line." 
 
 Neither won the jackpot, but in a sense, their little town did. 
 
 In their lives, the widows have seen Zephyrhills' "City of Pure Water" label go global. They've watched parachutists from the nearby international skydiving facility nearly land in their azaleas. They remember hundreds of men from the Army's 10th Fighter Squadron training at the municipal airport during World War II. 
 
 But in terms of landmark events, having a local supermarket sell a lottery ticket worth nearly $600 million darned near trumps them all. 
 
 "Who on earth would ever think about Zephyrhills in all this big country getting some kind of windfall for somebody?" Surratt asked. 
 
 Danny Burgess sure did. 
 
 Hence the reason the 26-year-old Zephyrhills mayor and several family members went in on about two dozen tickets. He bought his at the downtown 7-Eleven. 
 
 "The first thing I did was run and check my ticket," said Burgess, a 2004 Zephyrhills High graduate and lawyer who practices in a downtown office. 
 
 "It's amazing. Obviously everybody knew what the odds were. It just goes to show if you didn't have enough reason to love Zephyrhills, here's another one." 
 
 The identity of the winner had not yet been announced, but the ticket owner matched each number to win the highest Powerball jackpot ever. 
 
 "This would be the sixth Florida Powerball winner and right now, it's the sole winner of the largest-ever Powerball jackpot," Florida Lottery executive Cindy O'Connell said. She said Florida has had more Powerball winners than any other state. 
 
 "We're very excited, but we're respectful of the privacy of our customer," Publix spokesman Brian West said Sunday. "We offer Lottery as a service to our customers, but we don't promote it." 
 
 Whoever claims the windfall will need to wait until at least this morning to cash in. 
 
 For jackpots exceeding $250,000, Powerball rules require winners to claim the prizes in person during business hours at lottery offices. In this case, the winner will need to go to the Florida Lottery headquarters in Tallahassee with valid identification. Winners taking a cash option have 60 days; those choosing a 30-year annuity have 180 days. 
 
 "The office closes at 4," spokeswoman Meagan Dougherty said. 
 
 Virlee Anderson, a recent transplant from Virginia, exuded excitement for her new town. 
 
 "I'm touching a $600-million-winning store," Anderson said, tracing her hand on the sliding glass door as she walked into the Publix. "Oh my goodness, somebody's lucky. This is a small town, but they're on the map now." 
 
 U.S. 301 cuts through the town about 40 minutes north of Tampa, passing trailer parks and gun shops and Flaco's Cafe before reaching the store where shoppers were swarmed by the media. 
 
 Gradually evolving from sleepy to sprawling, Zephyrhills remains a town of about 13,000 — a figure that seems to double each winter with snowbirds. The city's growth is occurring on its northern edge, toward Dade City. The same plaza that boasts Publix now features a Five Guys, the restaurant chain. 
 
 "I just hope it was someone local and not someone just driving through, so the money will be spent around here and maybe be donated to a good cause," said Duane Dolly, who has lived in Zephyrhills for 33 years and bought five Powerball tickets. 
 
 Saturday night's winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11. The chances of winning were astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. 
 
 The small town would benefit from an injection into the local economy, some people said. Others pointed to local charities. "I think it could be a boost to the community if they donate some of the money to a worthy charity," said Ed Rosenberg of Dade City, who was at the grocery store. "Hopefully, they'll be helping out people who need it." 
 
 Some had planned what they would have done had they won — and supporting the town wasn't first on everyone's minds. 
 
 "It's awesome it was bought here, but I think it was random and the guy or girl who won it will move," said Leon Jennings of Zephyrhills. "If it was me, I wouldn't tell anyone. I'd run." 
 
 Staff writer Rich Shopes, news researcher Caryn Baird and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

 Some lucky person walked into a Publix supermarket in suburban Florida over the past few days and bought a ticket now worth an estimated $590.5 million _ the highest Powerball jackpot in history. 
 
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 A customer, right, waits for his Powerball lottery ticket at a convenience store in Chicago on Saturday, May 18, 2013. A little more than a year after three tickets split a world-record lottery prize,... (Associated Press) 
 
 Armous Peterson fills out his slip for the Powerball lottery at Jimmy's Mart on Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Columbia, S.C. Peterson keeps track of what numbers he plays from week to week. (AP Photo/Jeffrey... (Associated Press) 
 
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 It's an amount too high for many to imagine. Compare it to the budget for the city of Zephyrhills: This year's figure is just more than $49 million. The winning Powerball jackpot is 12 times that. 
 
 Whoever has the ticket hadn't come forward as of Sunday morning. 
 
 "This would be the sixth Florida Powerball winner and right now, it's the sole winner of the largest ever Powerball jackpot," Florida Lottery executive Cindy O'Connell told The Associated Press. "We're delighted right now that we have the sole winner." 
 
 Publix spokeswoman Maria Brous said that there are a lot of rumors about who won, but the store doesn't know. 
 
 "We're excited for the winner or winners," said Brous. "We don't promote or endorse the lottery, we offer it as a convenience." 
 
 Florida Lottery spokesman David Bishop said Sunday afternoon that it was doubtful the winner would come forward that day. The ticket-holder can't claim the prize until Monday when the agency opens, he said. 
 
 "It never happens this quickly," Bishop said. "If they know they won, they're going to contact their attorney or an accountant first so they can get their affairs in order." 
 
 O'Connell said Florida has had more Powerball winners than any other state but did not give any indication whether anyone had stepped forward with the winning ticket in Saturday's drawing. 
 
 But plenty of people in Zephyrhills _ population 13,337 _ are wondering whether it's someone they know. 
 
 Joan Albertson drove over to the Publix early Sunday morning with her camera in hand, just in case the winner emerged. She said she had bought a ticket at a store across the street, and the idea of winning that much money was still something of a shock. 
 
 "Oh, there's so much good that you could do with that amount of money." Albertson said. "I don't even know where to begin." 
 
 Zephyrhills is a small city in Pasco County, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of downtown Tampa. Once a rural farming town, it's now known as a hotbed for skydiving activity, and the home to large retiree mobile home parks and Zephyrhills bottled water. 
 
 And now, one lucky lottery ticket. 
 
 Sara Jeltis said her parents in Michigan texted her with the news Sunday morning. 
 
 "Well, it didn't click till I came here," she said, gesturing to the half-dozen TV live trucks humming in the Publix parking lot. "And I'm like, wow I can't believe it, it's shocking! Out of the whole country, this Publix, in little Zephyrhills would be the winner." 
 
 With four out of every five possible combinations of Powerball numbers in play, lottery executives said Saturday that someone was almost certain to win the game's highest jackpot, a windfall of hundreds of millions of dollars _ and that's after taxes. 
 
 The winning numbers were 10, 13, 14, 22 and 52, with a Powerball of 11. 
 
 Estimates had earlier put the jackpot at around $600 million. But Powerball's online site said Sunday that the jackpot had reached an estimated $590.5 million. 
 
 The world's largest jackpot was a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot in March 2012. 
 
 Terry Rich, CEO of the Iowa Lottery, initially confirmed that one Florida winning ticket had been sold. He told AP that following the Florida winner, the Powerball grand prize was being reset at an estimated jackpot of $40 million, or about $25.1 million cash value. 
 
 The chances of winning the prize were astronomically low: 1 in 175.2 million. That's how many different ways you can combine the numbers when you play. But lottery officials estimated that about 80 percent of those possible combinations had been purchased recently. 
 
 While the odds are low for any one individual or individuals, O'Connell said, the chance that one hits paydirt is what makes Powerball exciting. 
 
 "There is just the chance that you will have the opportunity, and Florida is a huge Powerball state," O'Connell said. "We have had more winners than any other state that participates in Powerball." 
 
 The longshot odds didn't deter people across Powerball-playing states _ 43 plus Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands _ from lining up at gas stations and convenience stores Saturday. 
 
 Clyde Barrow, a public policy professor at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, specializes in the gaming industry. He said one of the key factors behind the ticket-buying frenzy is the size of the jackpot _ people are interested in the easy investment. 
 
 "Even though the odds are very low, the investment is very small," he said. "Two dollars gets you a chance." 
 
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 Rodriguez reported from Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Barbara Rodriguez at http://twitter.com/bcrodriguez.
– As the winner of the $590.5 million Powerball jackpot wonders whether to take the annuity or a $370 million lump sum, the people of Zephyrhills are wondering who among them may now be incredibly rich. The winning ticket was sold in a Publix supermarket in the Florida town, population 13,337, reports the AP, which notes that the prize money is more than 12 times the town's annual budget. Before the jackpot, the town was best known for its skydiving. Zephyrhills residents say that if the winner turns out to be a local instead of somebody passing through on US 301, they hope the money will help the town—though some say they would have other plans if they won the jackpot. "It's awesome it was bought here, but I think it was random and the guy or girl who won it will move," one resident tells the Tampa Bay Times. "If it was me, I wouldn't tell anyone. I'd run." Whoever the winner is, they won't be able to claim their prize until lottery offices open this morning.