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Fay Could Return To Florida As Hurricane, Experts Say

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

The Wells family - Bob, Vicky and Tori - check the damage around their home in Everglades City on Tuesday in the wake of Tropical Storm Fay.

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By NEIL JOHNSON and LINDSAY PETERSON

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 19, 2008

Updated: 08/19/2008 11:14 pm

TAMPA - Tropical Storm Fay left behind a soggy but relieved Central Florida as the storm crawled across the state Tuesday toward an exit into the Atlantic Ocean. But forecasters warned that the storm isn't done with Florida yet, saying it could become a hurricane over water, curve left and make a second landfall north of Jacksonville.

"This storm is going to be with us for a while. That's obvious now. It looks like it could be a boomerang storm," Gov. Charlie Crist said at a news conference.

Fay downshifted slightly and moved slowly — about 5 mph — across south central Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center's 11 p.m. advisory. The storm is about 30 miles southwest of Melbourne.

The highest wind gusts in the Tampa Bay region were between 50 and 55 mph in eastern Polk and Highlands counties, Storm Team 8 meteorologist Megan Hatton said. Wind gusts of 50 mph are possible overnight in those areas as the heaviest rain bands swirl through, she said.

Sustained winds of 35 mph were recorded in Highlands. Fay is expected to weaken overnight, but will likely begin to strengthen when it moves over Atlantic waters on Wednesday, the hurricane center said.

Fay's bluster in the south central parts of Florida was nothing more than breezes in Tampa and most of Hillsborough County. By dusk, sunlight poked through the cloud bands that swept into the county.

Fay blew ashore about 5 a.m. Tuesday at Cape Romano. That's the same Collier County community pounded by Hurricane Wilma in 2005, but Fay was a powder puff by comparison, residents said.

With heavy rain and 60 mph winds, the storm whipped palm trees, wobbled street signs and briefly flooded streets, but caused no major problems.

"It's just a big mess. This was an easy one," said Lynn McMillin, who owns the 102-year-old Smallwood store and museum near Everglades City.

Tornadoes spawned by the storm seem to have caused the most serious damage. One in Brevard County damaged 51 homes, nine severely. Two touched down in Palm Beach County.

One of the tornadoes ripped the roof off the Palm Beach Equine Sports Complex in Wellington. No horses were injured. The second tornado damaged a Palm Beach Gardens carport.

There have been no reports of deaths in Florida, but a man was seriously injured attempting to kite surf in Fort Lauderdale when he was swept up by the wind, carried across the beach and slammed into a wall.

Kevin Kearney, 28, was still in critical condition today, Broward General Medical Center officials and his family said.

Two other injuries were reported in the Brevard County tornado.

The lights went off for about 100,000 residents and businesses in Florida, nearly all of them Florida Power and Light customers. Spokesman Mayco Villafana couldn't say when all the power would be restored. "We'll know more when the wind subsides," he said.

About 2,000 customers in Seminole, Highlands and Polk counties lost power. Outages affected about 1,100 Hillsborough customers, though the county wasn't in the path of the storm. "Sometimes we have more than that on a typical summer afternoon thunderstorm," said Tampa Electric Co. spokesman Rick Morera.

Local officials warned residents to take precautions Monday, ordering evacuations of mobile homes and closing schools and government buildings. But it was clear early today that Fay was going to be little more than a bad storm, and barely even that in Tampa.

Evacuations were called off, shelters were closed and officials announced that school and government business would resume today.

Crist and state emergency officials say they did not oversell Fay's potential danger.

"The storm has killed 10 people," said Crist, referring to the fatality reports from the islands that Fay crossed before reaching Florida. "It's important for us to take it seriously."

As it moved though the Caribbean, Fay was blamed for at least 14 deaths in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, including two babies who were found in a river after a bus crash.

Contrary to what happens to most tropical cyclones that spend hours over land, Fay saw its winds increase as it inched slowly from Southwest Florida toward the Atlantic Ocean. Its winds were about 60 mph when it reached land before dawn and had climbed to 65 mph by midafternoon.

The storm's internal pressure, another measure of intensity, continued to drop after the storm had spent roughly six hours over land, a rare event, the state meteorologist's office said.

Also, the storm's rain bands remained well organized, and Fay could maintain its tropical storm strength through its entire crossing of the state.

After the storm leaves the state, the National Hurricane Center expects it to linger in the Atlantic for a day or so as steering currents weaken, then head back over land near the Florida-Georgia line.

The projected path of Fay takes it into Georgia as a minimal hurricane, but the margin of error in the forecast covers most of North Florida and extends south of the Tampa Bay area.

Fay was a different storm depending on whether you were on the east or west side of its center. The storm drenched parts of Polk County, but Hillsborough and Pinellas counties stayed mostly dry.

For many people in the Tampa Bay area, the storm was a relaxing day off work or school.

It gave Allen Wuertz a chance to do some windsurfing in Lakeland. A math professor at Florida Southern College, he was one of several windsurfers on Lake Parker who found a rare opportunity in Fay's 30 mph winds.

Visiting from Texas, Judi and John Herold strolled along St. Pete beach Tuesday morning, picking up shells under a cloudy sky as tiny waves lapped the shore.

Just hours earlier they had been under a mandatory evacuation order. But they said they didn't give the edict much thought, especially since the staff at their beachfront hotel didn't seem to take it seriously.

Some of Fay's heaviest rains fell near the northwest edge of Lake Okeechobee and the Palm Beach County coast, where radar estimates show more than 12 inches.

By the time Fay finishes lollygagging over the state, some areas could have received as much as 15 inches, forecasters say.

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