code: def _cast_float(temp_dt):
      
      if type(temp_dt) == str:
          fmt = '%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:00'
          base_dt = temp_dt[0:19]
          tz_offset = eval(temp_dt[19:22])
          temp_dt = datetime.datetime.strptime(base_dt, fmt) - \
                  datetime.timedelta(hours=tz_offset)
      return (temp_dt - datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1)).total_seconds()
docs: returns utc timestamp