http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-62285

shortages of lower grades of gas, empty shelves, nothing too surprising

That remains to be seen. The difference is duration. Forty-five mph winds and three-quarter of an inch an hour is high-normal for summer storms in Florida. The difference here is that this storm will be effecting many areas in the state for eight to twelve hours.

Soil becomes saturated and soft. Which means leaning trees can fall over even without any wind. Power poles, trees and structural supports that can easily stand normal 45 mph winds can fail when exposed to gusts over half a day that work them back and forth.

One of the greatest dangers is that people will completely discount the smaller, but still present, dangers. Localized flooding, downed trees and power lines, generators and sources of fire, like candles and oil lamps, and the other hazards, have to be respected.

While a tropical storm is not quite the same scale of hazard as a major hurricane this isn't the time to get complacent or careless.

Not a major storm, but enough to get your attention. Think of it as a drill.

Besides, still plenty of time for it to stall out and dump a lot of water and some twisters.

Too true, tropical storm Allison swamped Houston, killed people and resulted in a huge amount of damage. Almost none of it wind related, all due to flooding from high sustained rainfall.

That storm was the main turning point for DW and preparedness. A lady in our neighborhood drowned in that storm. She was working late when the building's security guard called her to move her car from the basement garage. Water was starting to flow in. She took the elevator down and when its door opened the water rushed in, filled the elevator and she drowned. Our street received 39 inches of rain on that day. The weatherman predicted only a 30% chance of rain...

Never trust Houston weather.

-Blast

Latest reports, as of 0120 EST, have Fay moving offshore from Melbourne FL, picking up enough strength from the gulf stream to become a category one hurricane and doing a quick 'left-face' to make a run at Jacksonville and on inland.

Seems Fay felt insulted being made fun of as a wimpy TS. So it decided to take a mulligan and reintroduce itself as a hurricane. Lesson: Cyclonic storms are fickle, unpredictable and treacherous beasts. Just about when you think they are gone, or too weak to worry about, they turn around and/or gain strength. It isn't over until its over.

Don't freak out or panic. Florida has seen far worse. But don't entirely let your guard down either. Even a weak storm can do a lot of damage.

When I lived on the Texas coast the worst storms were the Tropical Storms, not the Hurricanes. Hurricanes have more wind but Tropical Storms seem prone to stopping for an extended visit or coming back for more, and it's the water that causes the damage and kills.

One day I'll have to dig through the NWS archives and see whether Hurricanes or Tropical Storms have tended to put more water on the ground where I grew up.

PS. Don't place too much emphasis on wind speed or "Category" anyway. Wind speeds in New Orleans during Katrina just barely ticked over into minimal Category 1 Hurricane strength, but it was enough...

No kidding, you knew her? I read/watched the news about that incident. That storm stuck in a few people's heads and started me on vehicle kits (before I even had my own car, I set one up in my parent's). I was already carrying a kit in my school bag, including a contraband Swiss Army Knife, first aid and snickers bars, the cheapest, easiest survival food I could get my hands on.

But yeah, during Allison in rained for around a week. Steady down pour resulting in flash floods. People were stranded all over the city. Bad storm, mostly just damage caused by rain.

> Overreacting. Fay turned out to be NOTHING. It's just a run of the
> mill tropical storm.

Well, _now_ we know how it turned out. We'd be the first to step on all those people for not being prepared enough if it had turned into a disaster.

8000+ homes flooded and more to come, hardly nothing.

Flooding