Tropical Storm Fay Floods Hundreds of Fla. Homes

[951-Riverside]

Source: The Associated Press

A county spokesman says heavy rain from Tropical Storm Fay has flooded hundreds of homes in central Florida.

St. Lucie County spokesman Erick Gill said water in some areas is waist-deep and is getting into homes, causing significant damage.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=5615021

[angrycarpenter]

1. I thought I was safe

But damned if it isn't making a u turn to come from a direction I have never seen one go before.

[Purveyor]

2. There is some remote speculation at the NHC that Fay may cross back over FL and wind up back in the

Gulf of Mexico.

[1monster]

9. I'm sitting on the First Coast watching this thing... the trajectory keeps changing.

At one point the reentry from the Atlantic was supposed to pass about five to ten miles north of me. Now, it is projected to 30 miles south.

Meantime, Fay is sitting off the coast, stalled.

I tied down or brought in anything blowable yesterday and am awaiting developments to decide whether or not to board up or not. I also laid in about $200 of emergency supplies to supplement those that are on hand. Store is not carrying lamp oil any more, which is a shocker since during the four hurricanes of 2005, we were without power for 21 days...

I love the fourteen pine trees surrounding my house, but every time we have a big blow, I worry about them snapping in half and takin my house out...

Cross your fingers. Faye is so capricious, she may just decide to go out into the northern Atlantic and die down.

[cobalt1999]

13. Pine trees don't usually snap in half.

They tend to bend over slowly. The root system is more of a ball than an oak tree.

[1monster]

14. We have slash pines and live oaks around here. I have seen many, many

pine trees snapped in half after wild weather. They have a deep and wide spread root system and will snap before they uproot. The live oaks have a shallow, but very broad root system and fall over when the ground is saturated even without wind.

[cobalt1999]

12. I'm down the coast from you.

Never seen one from come in from the east before either. Looks like a wet weekend. At least I don't have to board the windows and pull the boats.

[Betsy Ross]

3. And their National Guard...

Just feeling sick for the people affected. Hope FEMA can come through for Florida. If they don't, people might become disillusioned with Republican administrations.

I did hear that there is an upside: The rain is helping to relieve low resevior levels.

[RebelOne]

4. CNN is reporting 8,000 homes flooded.

www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/08/20/tropical.storm.fay/index.html

[Akoto]

5. I am in Port Saint Lucie ...

Weather man reports that this is the worst flooding in the history of our county, and I can believe it. Our street was like a river and water came into the house when it was really bad last night.

[RockaFowler]

7. Port St Lucie here, too

I work at the local NBC and we have some great pictures of the storm and the aftermath:

www.wptv.com

We were flooded and had to find our 3rd alternative to get to work today. US 1 is an absolute mess from Jensen Beach to Fort Pierce. Anything east of there is under water as well. I can't believe we got over 12 inches of rain yesterday.

[Baby Snooks]

6. Deja vu for Texans

Tropical Storm Allison did the same thing and literally just went in reverse dumping over 30 inches of rain in the greater Houston area within 24 hours. They do have a mind of their own. And go where they want to go. Despite all the weather models and the predictions. People in Houston will identify with what is happening. And have a horrible sense of deja vu. It is not pleasant. Especially when the rain keeps falling.

[Hugabear]

8. This storm actually STRENGTHENED over land

T.S. Fay actually strengthened after it came ashore here in Florida, which is virtually unheard of. It's not unheard of for a storm to strengthen a little bit, but not to the point where it develops an eyewall and not to the extent to which this one strengthened. Of course, this storm had Lake Ockechobee and the Everglades to draw some strength from.

As soon as I saw how slow this storm was crawling along, I started sandbagging my doors. We got flooded pretty good during Hurricanes Francis and Jeanne back in '04. We got relatively lucky here in Orlando. Can't say the same for some of my friends along the coast, they're getting a pretty good pounding right now.

A tropical storm that barely moves along can be just as bad (if not worse) than a weak hurricane that moves along pretty quickly.

[northofdenali]

10. Keeping fingers crossed, karma strong and prayers coming

from up here in the northland - very close friends and family in Fay's track (Eastern Brevard County) and my mom is 92, so I'm really anxious.

What a year for odd storms - we had the worst flooding here in Interior Alaska since the "big one" that totalled Fairbanks in 1967.

Keeping all you Southeast/Central East Florida folks in my heart! :hug::hug:

[Crewleader]

15. Tropical Storm Fay

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

Hey my dear friend,

Fay hit us hard,heavy rain with lots of flooding...I'm OK not in low area but wind was brutal on our construction,but we're lucky compared to a lot of folks. She's been very slow going through and headed back, stalled for hours with the bands of heavy rain and wind.

Now to get some sleep.

:hug:

[northofdenali]

16. Crew, I hope the house with all the new stuff you've added is ok.

But hell, losing shingles sure beats being flooded!

Mom herself is ok (she got the hell out, at 92 years old, who blames her?) - and get this - I posted to Florida Today asking folks for info on her specific neighborhood off North Banana River Drive.

Two repliers are going to do actual drive-throughs in the AM and post to let me know how things look.

When this kind of disaster happens, it never ceases to amaze me how folks come through for neighbors - even if the "neighbor" is 5000 miles away and holds a distinctly different political view from the folks I'm asking favors of.

Keep it together, Brevard County - a group of far-flung political ideas, but close-knit community!

:hug: Crew - get some sleep and if you need some help, email me. :loveya:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

11. This is going to bring sorely needed rain...

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html
I think it's ultimately going to prove to be a welcome storm.