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Tallahassee: Gov. Stands By Fay Call

Tribune photo by COLIN HACKLEY

Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, center, speaks during a news conference with Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, left, and Gov. Charlie Crist, right, on the landfall of Tropical Storm Fay Tuesday morning at the Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee.

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 19, 2008

10:20 a.m. Gov. Charlie Crist and emergency officials insist they did not oversell Fay, the would-be hurricane that has been downgraded to a tropical storm with tornado and flooding potential.

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

All hurricane storm warnings about Fay have been discontinued, but tropical storm warnings remain in effect, Crist says. On the west coast, that warning extends from Longboat Key South. On the east coast, it extends from Flagler Beach south. A tornado watch is in effect for most of central and south Florida until 4 p.m., and one has already touched down in Palm Beach County.

Fay made landfall on the Collier County coast at about 5 a.m. and crossed northern Collier County at 8 a.m.; a flood watch remains in effect for the county. Maximum sustained winds are still near 60 miles per hour, and the storm is moving north-northeast at 9 miles per hour.

"In areas where the weather is getting worse, stay inside and stay off the road and be safe," Crist says. "Where weather is improving, be cautious about downed power lines."

Craig Fugate, state director of emergency operations, says about 44,000 people had lost power statewide. Outages, he says, are likely to remain localized; Fay is "not the type of storm that does significant damage to the grid."

About 1,200 people were reported in shelters overnight; emergency officials expect that number to drop quickly.

Ben Nelson, state meteorologist, says Fay is slowing its move across the Florida peninsula and is expected to slow down further as it heads to the northeast on Wednesday and Thursday, making flooding a threat through most of the week. "Fay is not going to be something that is going to be out of our hair anytime soon," though there is no rapid re-strengthening predicted.

Fugate says not everyone is heeding the state's warnings about staying off and out of the water. In Ft. Lauderdale, he says, "unfortunately we had a person who was, apparently, trying to kite-surf … our reports are that they had injuries and are still with us. But it again it just points out that these storms can be dangerous if people are outside."

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