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Fay downgraded to depression

Posted Monday, August 25, 2008

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency issued its last advisory on Tropical Storm Fay Sunday afternoon, after the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression and appeared to be stalling over southern Mississippi.

Fay made a record four landfalls in Florida, and dumped record amounts of rain in portions of that state.

The storm is blamed for at least 11 deaths in Florida over the past week, bringing its total death toll to 23. Thirteen died in Haiti and the Dominican Republic from flooding as Fay swept through.

Thousands of Florida homes and businesses were flooded as the storm traveled north from its first landfall in the Keys, then criss-crossed the peninsula.

Fay's center made its fourth landfall around noon Saturday about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, according to the National Hurricane Center. While the landfall was mostly uneventful in that area, bands of heavy rain and high winds on the east side of the storm deluged inland areas.

Tallahassee, the state capital, experienced rainfall of more than 19 inches in 24 hours, and nearby Melbourne Beach recorded 25.28 inches. Strong winds downed trees and power lines and left about 12,000 without power.

Sunday evening, the center of the depression was about 75 miles south of Jackson, Mississippi and 90 miles north of New Orleans. Flood ewatches and warnings were in effect for southern Alabama, southwestern Georgia, southeastern Mississippi and Louisiana and across portions of the Florida panhandle.

Authorities said the depression was nearly stationary, drifting slowly to the south and west, and should remain stalled for another 12 to 24 hours before beginning an advance to the northeast by Tuesday morning.

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