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Everglades City: Rumbles At 4:30

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By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 19, 2008

EVERGLADES CITY - 7:25 a.m. As the gray, wet and windswept dawn began to light this small fishing village on the Gulf of Mexico, Martha Hutcheson slogged through about 6 inches of water near downtown.

She had moved her pickup from her home on a canal to a parking lot that was perhaps the highest ground here. It was a precaution. She didn't think the flooding would get any worse.

"The storm probably got a little loud at 4:30 this morning," she said. "It started to rumble."

Tropical Storm Fay swept ashore here before dawn. It brought driving rain and some winds of up to 60 mph, but little damage and no casualties.

Officials say the only problems are flooding streets, caused partly by the 4 to 8 inches of rain dropped and a little bit of a high tide.

Hutcheson, a lifelong Floridian who said she has seen some 50 named storms, said the worst of Fay is passed.

Her family - she is fifth generation - is from Key Biscayne in Miami and she has seen some pretty powerful storms down there, she said.

"Once you go through Andrew," she said, "This is literally a breeze."

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