Fay's 4th Florida landfall is one for record books

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-23 22:53

STEINHATCHEE - Tropical Storm Fay crossed into the Florida Panhandle on Saturday, becoming the first storm of its kind in recorded history to hit the state four different times.

Residents in boat survey neighborhood flood damage from Tropical Storm Fay in Debary, Fla., Friday, Aug. 22, 2008. [Agencies]

Fay's center made landfall around 1 a.m. EDT 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 as it skirted across the Panhandle's coast and reached the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday.

Though Fay never materialized into a hurricane, downpours along its zigzagging path have been punishing and deadly.

At least six people in Florida were dead from the storm, state officials said, and two more deaths reported Friday were believed to be Fay-related. The state attributed an additional death, before the storm hit, to hurricane preparedness after a man testing generators died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

"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.

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.

Counties in the Panhandle - including Bay, Escambia and Walton - opened their emergency operations centers Friday in preparation for the storm's expected arrival there.

In Steinhatchee, just south of Florida's Big Bend, bartender Dana Watson said she was bracing for a possible drenching. "It's moving real slow. We're waiting. We're just waiting."

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