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WORLD> America
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Tropical Storm not done yet, threatens Gulf cities
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-24 11:40 At 1 pm EDT, the storm's center was about 75 miles (121 kilometers) east of Pensacola and was moving west about 8 mph (13 kph). Forecasters said they expected Fay to remain a tropical storm through Saturday and that it would weaken the longer it remained over land. In the New Orleans area, which is approaching the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the 2005 storm that devastated the city, emergency officials were monitoring the storm and telling residents of the potential for heavy rain and the need to avoid low areas that could flood. Forecasts called for 1 to 3 inches (2.54 to 7.62 centimeters) of rain in the New Orleans area, 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 to residents Saturday. 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 in the Gulf Coast if the storm continues to creep on its path, a FEMA spokeswoman said. Fay's wake caused widespread flooding along Florida's east coast. The Office of Insurance Regulation reported Saturday that roughly 6,700 homeowners filed claims, although only some were because of flooding. That number was expected to change, and Gov. Charlie Crist has asked the federal government to declare the worst-hit areas major disaster areas. Fay has been an unusual storm since it was named August 15. After hitting the Keys Monday, it crossed open water again before hitting a second time on the southwest coast. It limped across the state, popped back out into the Atlantic Ocean and struck again on the central eastern coast. 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.
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