Tropical Storm Fay swept into Florida from the Gulf of Mexico and soaked the state yesterday while growing strong enough that forecasters said it could become a hurricane before smacking Florida a third time.
The core of the storm was expected to move into the Atlantic Ocean today, possibly growing into a hurricane over the warm Gulf Stream current before curving back into north Florida tomorrow. It would become a hurricane if its sustained winds reach 119 kph.
Damage was light as Fay blustered diagonally across the peninsula. At 6pm EDT the storm's centre was over central Florida about 85 km south-southwest of Melbourne, the US National Hurricane centre said.
Tropical storms are powered by warm ocean waters and generally weaken quickly once they move ashore. Fay defied expectations by growing stronger over land.
"In fact, it is stronger than it has ever been so far," the hurricane forecasters noted in their advisory.
Fay's top sustained winds rose to 105 km per hour, making it slightly stronger than it was when it passed over the Florida Keys on Monday or when it came back ashore in southwest Florida yesterday.
The land in Fay's path was so warm and swampy that "it might not register that it's really land at this point," said Corey Walton, a hurricane support meteorologist at the Miami-based hurricane centre.
The sixth storm of what experts predict will be an unusually busy Atlantic hurricane season, Fay brought gusty conditions and steady downpours to south and central Florida. The rain was needed in a region where development over the past decade has outstripped water supplies.
"Most of the damage has really been limited to the heavy rainfall," Florida Emergency Management director Craig Fugate said. "Street flooding, downed power lines, downed trees, that kind of event."
The storm killed more than 50 people in the Caribbean, most of them in Haiti when a crowded bus was carried away as it tried to cross a rain-swollen river.
Reuters