ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tropical Storm Fay began wrapping up its disastrous slog across Florida on Saturday by making a record fourth landfall on the Panhandle's coast. Emergency officials said 11 people have been killed in the state alone.

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

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"Fay made landfall at Carrabelle," Local 6's Eric Wilson said.

Across the Florida peninsula, communities began cleaning up the damage from several inches of rain that flooded homes, destroyed crops and prompted Gov. Charlie Crist to ask for a major disaster declaration from the federal government.

Fay's center made landfall around 1 a.m. EDT about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, according to the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center.

Fay was expected to finally leave the state on Saturday and reach the coasts of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday. Though Fay never became a hurricane, downpours along its zigzagging path have been punishing and deadly.

The storm has killed 10 people in the state, Florida Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey said in a briefing from the emergency operations center in Tallahassee.

The identities of all the victims and the causes of their deaths weren't immediately released, but at least three were killed Friday in weather-related traffic accidents and two drowned in heavy surf.

Another man died from carbon monoxide poisoning while testing power generators before the storm hit. At least 23 people were killed last week in Haiti and the Dominican Republic by flooding from Fay.

"The damage from Fay is a reminder that a tropical storm does not have to reach a hurricane level to be dangerous and cause significant damage," said Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who toured flooded communities this week.

Crist on Friday asked the White House to elevate the disaster declaration President Bush issued to a major disaster declaration. Crist said the storm damaged 1,572 homes in Brevard County alone, dropping 25 inches of rain in Melbourne.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, the center of the storm was located about 100 miles east-southeast of Pensacola and was moving west near 7 mph with sustained winds near 45 mph. The storm was expected to keep its strength and remain a tropical storm into Sunday.

Fay's fourth landfall was underwhelming for some in the Apalachicola area.

"It's been peaceful and quiet so far," said Franklin County Emergency Management Director Butch Baker, who lives in Carabelle, where the storm's center came ashore.

"I slept through the whole thing. It wasn't very dramatic when it came onshore."

Baker said his office received reports of sporadic power outages, but roads were clear and they hadn't received any calls for help.

Martha Pearl Ward, 72, and Pam Nobles, 52, were heading for breakfast in downtown Apalachicola on Saturday morning.

"I just think we're so fortunate we didn't have high tide and a stronger wind because (Hurricane) Dennis is still fresh in our mind, the tidal surge we had in here," Ward said.

Fay's wake caused widespread flooding along Florida's east coast, especially in Jacksonville near the storm's third landfall. Some areas of Duval County reported up to 20 inches of rain, and authorities reported an unknown number of homes and businesses flooded. Floodwaters began receding in some of the hardest-hit areas of South Florida.

Fay has been an unusual storm, even by Florida standards. It first made landfall in the Florida Keys on Monday, then headed out over open water again before hitting a second time near Naples on the southwest coast.

It limped across the state, popped back out into the Atlantic Ocean and struck again near Flagler Beach on the central coast. It was the first storm in almost 50 years to make three landfalls in the state, as most hit and exit within a day or two.

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.