Fay makes rare third Fla. landfall

Up to 30 inches of rain were dropped since the storm’s first landfall Monday.

McClatchy Newspapers

MELBOURNE, Fla. — Dean and Tina Munson’s washer and dryer floated in floodwater on the porch outside Unit 92 at Lamplighter Village. Their only dry possessions were those they hastily stashed in a backpack before deputy sheriffs trucked them to safety. They didn’t know where they’d sleep.

But more than a dry home or dry clothes or a dry bed, Tina Munson wanted to know if photographs of her late father had survived Tropical Storm Fay.

“I have pictures of him and he passed,” she said. “I can’t replace that.”

The Munsons were among hundreds of Floridians flushed out of their homes by Fay, the slow-moving, meandering storm that by Sunday will have soaked every inch of the state.

The storm made a rare third Florida landfall Thursday near Flagler Beach. Soon afterward, President Bush approved Gov. Charlie Crist’s request for emergency federal assistance.

Crist received word of the federal emergency aid while touring Barefoot Bay, a south Brevard County community ravaged by a tornado this week. Crist talked with some of the victims whose homes were damaged, giving a retired nurse his business card and telling her, “Give me a call if you need anything.”

Phil Fortman, 95, said he was at home when the tornado ripped up his roof, causing him to fall and gash his leg. The storm and tornado were overwhelming, Fortman said.

“It was a tremendous crash,” he said.

Since making its first landfall in Key West Monday, Fay zig-zagged through the state, dropping up to 30 inches of rain in some Central Florida areas and carrying 60 mph winds. The deluge caused catastrophic flooding that officials estimated would cause millions of dollars of damage to buildings, homes, infrastructure and agriculture.

Florida National Guard troops and local authorities had to rescue stranded people from places like Lamplighter Village with canoes, airboats and Humvees. They had to keep a watchful eye out for alligators, snakes and other wild creatures crawling through the floodwaters.

By afternoon, Federal Emergency Management Agency workers had been dispatched to survey the hardest hit areas.

“I didn’t expect to see this much,” FEMA spokesman Jeff Walsh said after visiting Lamplighter. “There was no section that wasn’t flooded, some higher than others.”

The rain did end up one place that needed it: Lake Okeechobee. Water managers said about 8 inches of rain had fallen into the lake this week, raising it to 12.22 feet. The lake’s water level had been below 12 feet since January 2007.

Forecasters expect Fay to gradually weaken as it moves west across North Florida through Sunday. It could drop up to 10 inches of rain along its path toward the Gulf Coast.

Back at Lamplighter Village, Florida National Guard troops let the Munsons wade back to their home Thursday afternoon. The water came up to Dean Munson’s waist and up to his wife’s chest.

Though the water had soaked their floors and seeped into the air-conditioning ducts, they said most of their belongings could be salvaged. Tina Munson’s photographs of her father: safe.