Tropical storm causes soggy mess in Florida

The governor has requested a disaster declaration from the federal government.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (AP) — Steve Grenon sat in the bed of his pickup truck Wednesday in front of his house, staring out at a street that now looks more like a wind-whipped lake, whitecaps and all.

He’s been stuck in his house for two days, unable to leave with water that’s risen as high as 6 feet deep blocking his driveway. The 40-year-old’s home was surrounded by water that overflowed from nearby canals.

“It’s like a moat. There’s water all the way around,” Grenon said, sweeping his hand out in front of him.

On Day Three of Tropical Storm Fay’s slow, wet march across the state, emergency crews launched airboats into submerged streets, some trapped residents were rescued from homes, and the midway point on Florida’s Atlantic coast turned into a swampy mess.

Calling the flooding “catastrophic,” Gov. Charlie Crist requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray rising debris and response costs. The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.

Authorities worried the murky brown waters that overflowed from canals would grow deeper as stop-and-go rains flowed from dismal, gray skies.

Though there have been reports of flooded homes and rescues in counties up and down the coast, for many the storm was just a major inconvenience.

John DeMatthews, 51, walked four miles from his home with a few friends to grab supplies at the grocery store. He hasn’t been able to move his car out of his driveway since Monday.

“Just the necessities,” DeMatthews said, as he slogged through knee-deep water in the street, a white plastic bag slung over his shoulder. “Mayonnaise, cigarettes and coffee.”

As many residents simply waited for the waters to recede, others had gone to work Tuesday and later found they couldn’t get back home. Some of them were being shuttled on a Port St. Lucie police bus back to their houses.

“There’s cars stranded all over,” said Robert Vega, spokesman for the Port St. Lucie Police Department. “You can’t tell what’s a canal and what’s a roadway out here. It’s that bad.”

Hundreds of homes were flooded in areas of Brevard and St. Lucie counties, some by up to 5 feet of standing water. In three towns, rising floodwaters backed up sewage systems, affecting up to 50,000 people, officials said.

The storm could dump 30 inches of rain in some areas of Florida, and the National Hurricane Center said up to 22 inches had already fallen near Melbourne.

, just south of Cape Canaveral on the state’s central Atlantic coast.

By Wednesday evening, the storm’s center had moved over the Atlantic Ocean, and its winds were picking up speed.