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Fay Continues Rain-Drenching Slog Westward

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The Associated Press

Published: August 24, 2008

APALACHICOLA - Fay just won't quit.

The tropical storm that set a record with four landfalls in Florida chugged west across the Gulf Coast on Saturday, and cities from Pensacola to New Orleans prepared for several inches of rain. Late Saturday, the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression.

Proving that a slow-moving tropical storm can be as deadly and damaging as a hurricane, Fay killed at least 11 people in Florida and one in Georgia, emergency officials said.

Thousands of homes and businesses were flooded last week as the storm worked its way north from its first landfall in the Florida Keys and zigzagged across the peninsula.

"This is unprecedented in terms of the slow nature of this storm, the large circulation and the fact that it's impacted probably about 90 percent of the state with heavy rains and severe weather," state meteorologist Ben Nelson said.

Fay's center made its fourth landfall around 1 a.m. Saturday about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Rains and strong wind gusts blitzed Tallahassee for more than 24 hours, knocking down trees and power lines, and cutting electricity to more than 12,000 customers, city officials said.

Forecasters said Fay was weakening over land but was still dumping heavy rain. The storm was expected to move over southern Alabama and Mississippi today.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the northeastern Gulf Coast from the Suwanee River west to the Alabama-Mississippi border, and storm surge flooding of 2 to 4 feet was possible.

Fay was expected to produce total rainfall of 6 to 12 inches through Sunday from western Florida to eastern Louisiana.

The U.S. Coast Guard in Mobile, Ala., closed numerous ports and waterways between Panama City, Fla., and the Alabama coast.

In southwest Georgia, officials said a boy drowned Saturday while playing in a drainage ditch swollen by 10 to 12 inches of rain.

Shelters Open In Alabama

In Florida, as winds picked up and skies darkened along Pensacola Beach, Alex Davis took his morning jog. The longtime beach resident said he wasn't too worried.

"I doubt we'll see any flooding out here. The wind is starting to sting a little but that's about it," he said.
Emergency officials in low-lying cities in Fay's path, however, weren't taking any chances.

In Alabama, officials opened shelters in the coastal counties of Mobile and Baldwin. Trucks capable of rescuing people from floodwaters were also in place, said Yasamie Richardson, spokeswoman for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

In the New Orleans area, which is approaching the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, forecasts called for 1 to 3 inches of rain on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. In St. Bernard Parish, the site of some of the worst post-Katrina flooding, emergency officials were handing out sandbags.

Officials in Slidell, La., where forecasters predicted 3 to 5 inches of rain could fall late today and Monday, said emergency vehicles had been fueled and workers were on call.

Sandbags were also distributed in Ocean Springs, Gulfport and Biloxi on the Mississippi coast. The Air Force Reserve's 403rd Wing evacuated aircraft Saturday from Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., to locations in South Florida and Texas. The 403rd includes hurricane-hunter planes that officials said would be available to continue to monitor Fay.

The Gulf Islands National Seashore closed a campground area and four barrier islands to the public.

Death Toll Reaches 35

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, R. David Paulison, visited the National Hurricane Center in Miami on Saturday to discuss concerns of flooding on the Gulf Coast if the storm continues to creep on its path, a FEMA spokeswoman said.

"The flooding is definitely something that we are monitoring and tracking and he was down there to see what kind of handle he could get on that," spokeswoman Mary Margaret Walker said.

The 11 people killed in Florida and one in Georgia bring the death toll from Fay to at least 35. A total of 23 died in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Fay's wake caused widespread flooding along Florida's east coast, especially in Jacksonville near the storm's third landfall.

The Office of Insurance Regulation reported Saturday that some 6,700 homeowners filed claims, although only some were because of flooding.

Gov. Charlie Crist has asked the federal government to declare the worst-hit areas major disaster areas.

RECORD LANDFALLS
Fay has been an unusual storm since it was named Aug. 15. It was the first storm in almost 50 years to make three landfalls in the state as a tropical storm. Its fourth landfall as such was the first in recorded history. Here's a look at Fay:

•After hitting the Keys on Monday, Fay crossed open water again.

•The storm made landfall a second time near Naples on the southwest coast on Tuesday.

•It limped across the state, popped back out into the Atlantic Ocean and struck again near Flagler Beach on the central eastern coast.

•Fay's center made its fourth landfall Saturday about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola.

The Associated Press

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