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Fourth Fla. Landfall Possible For Fay

Rivers Cresting In Central Florida

POSTED: Thursday, August 21, 2008
UPDATED: 12:52 am EDT August 23, 2008

Fay continued to move west and out of Florida early Saturday but could still make a history-making fourth landfall in the state.


IMAGES: Top Viewer Flood Photos Top Images
IMAGES: Fay Floods Hospital; Diverts Patients
IMAGES: Canoes - Airboats Used To Flee Floods

The system dumped record-breaking amounts of rain on Central Florida this week after making three landfalls in the state.

"It is only the fourth time in history that Florida has been hit by the same storm three times," Local 6 meteorologist Tom Sorrells said. "The last time it happened was 1960 with Donna. This is one for the record books -- historical rain and historical land strikes."

Sorrells said the storm was in the Gulf of Mexcio and may make landfall in Mississippi over the weekend. But another state hit is possible.

"If it works its way up into a tropical storm, it will be the fourth land strike that Fay put on Florida during one session," Sorrells said. "I don't think it has every happened before. Only three other storms have ever hit us three times. It has just been a weird run."

Fay was located south of Tallahassee early Saturday.

Rivers Cresting

Heavy rains dumped in Central Florida by Tropical Storm Fay are threatening to cause rivers to crest and flood neighborhoods even after the system moves out of the area this weekend.

"The St. Johns River is under the gun for flooding," Local 6 meteorologist Eric Wilson said. "(It's) not just today but for the next seven days because 10 inches of rain have fallen (north of the river) and 20 inches of rain have fallen (south of river). It takes days for it to percolate."

Astor was already over flood stage at the St. Johns River and has been forecasted to get even higher.

"Isn't it amazing that something that did not become a hurricane can cause so much damage," Wilson said. "We are talking about rain -- two feet of rain."

How high the rivers rise depends on how much rain falls in the next two days.

"Rivers are getting very close to flood stage in some areas," Local 6 meteorologist Rob Eicher said. "The crest is still several days -- maybe a week or more -- away depending on how much afternoon shower and thunderstorm activity we get in the next couple of days."

In 2004, flooding from rivers flooded posed a problem for several communities.

"If you were anywhere around the area in 2004, you know exactly what we are talking about," Wilson said. "It can be sunny out next week and you are still going to see these (rivers) rise."

Lake Harney was forecast to get close to flood stage in the next few days.

"It's the same in Sanford," Eicher said. "If you remember in 2004, during the hurricanes, we had Lake Monroe came up over the Riverwalk area and we had alligators swimming around in some of the main thoroughfares in downtown Sanford in 2004."

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

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