Fay makes record 4th landfall in Fla.; 11 dead
Pastor Dale Morgan
Fay makes record 4th landfall in Fla.; 11 dead*
By Bill Kaczor, Associated Press Writer
APALACHICOLA, Fla. — Tropical Storm Fay began wrapping up its disastrous
slog across Florida on Saturday by making a record fourth landfall on
the Panhandle's coast. Emergency officials said 11 people have been
killed in the state alone.
Across the Florida peninsula, communities began cleaning up the damage
from several inches of rain that flooded homes, destroyed crops and
prompted Gov. Charlie Crist to ask for a major disaster declaration from
the federal government.
Fay's center made landfall around 1 a.m. ET about 15 miles
north-northeast of Apalachicola, according to the National Weather
Service's National Hurricane Center.
Fay was expected to finally leave the state on Saturday and reach the
coasts of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday. Though Fay never became a
hurricane, downpours along its zigzagging path have been punishing and
deadly.
The identities of all the victims and the causes of their deaths were
not immediately released. At least three of the victims died in
weather-related traffic accidents and two more drowned in heavy surf.
Officials at the state's emergency operations center in Tallahassee say
the 11th storm-related fatalilty was an electrical worker in Gadsden
County who was responding to a power outage when he was killed.
Another man died from carbon monoxide poisoning while testing power
generators before the storm hit. At least 23 people were killed last
week in Haiti and the Dominican Republic by flooding from Fay.
"The damage from Fay is a reminder that a tropical storm does not have
to reach a hurricane level to be dangerous and cause significant
damage," said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who toured flooded communities
this week.
Gov. Charlie Crist said he was grateful for the electric worker's
sacrifice in an emergency.
Crist on Friday asked the White House to elevate the disaster
declaration President Bush issued to a major disaster declaration. Crist
said the storm damaged 1,572 homes in Brevard County alone, dropping 25
inches of rain in Melbourne.
At 11 a.m. Saturday, the center of the storm was located about 100 miles
east-southeast of Pensacola and was moving west near 7 mph with
sustained winds near 45 mph. The storm was expected to keep its strength
and remain a tropical storm into Sunday.
Fay's fourth landfall was underwhelming for some in the Apalachicola area.
"It's been peaceful and quiet so far," said Franklin County Emergency
Management Director Butch Baker, who lives in Carabelle, where the
storm's center came ashore.
"I slept through the whole thing. It wasn't very dramatic when it came
onshore."
Baker said his office received reports of sporadic power outages, but
roads were clear and they hadn't received any calls for help.
Martha Pearl Ward, 72, and Pam Nobles, 52, were heading for breakfast in
downtown Apalachicola on Saturday morning.
"I just think we're so fortunate we didn't have high tide and a stronger
wind because (Hurricane) Dennis is still fresh in our mind, the tidal
surge we had in here," Ward said.
Fay's wake caused widespread flooding along Florida's east coast,
especially in Jacksonville near the storm's third landfall. Some areas
of Duval County reported up to 20 inches of rain, and authorities
reported an unknown number of homes and businesses flooded. Floodwaters
began receding in some of the hardest-hit areas of South Florida.
Fay has been an unusual storm, even by Florida standards. It first made
landfall in the Florida Keys on Monday, then headed out over open water
again before hitting a second time near Naples on the southwest coast.
It limped across the state, popped back out into the Atlantic Ocean and
struck again near Flagler Beach on the central coast. It was the first
storm in almost 50 years to make three landfalls in the state, as most
hit and exit within a day or two.
Contributing: Associated Press writers Brent Kallestad and Bill Kaczor
reported from Tallahassee; Ron Word from Jacksonville; Brian Skoloff
from Melbourne; Melissa Nelson from Pensacola; Russ Bynum from Savannah,
Ga.; and David Fischer and Tamara Lush from Miami.