Tropical Storm Fay makes landfall in Florida
The storm, which is expected to reach hurricane force by Tuesday morning, caused at least eight deaths in the Caribbean.
Tropical Storm Fay, which is expected to build into a hurricane, made landfall over Key West, Fla., this afternoon after causing the deaths of at least eight people as it moved across the Caribbean.
The center of the storm, packing wind gusts of up to 60 mph, hit Key West about 3 p.m. EDT, bringing rain and likely storm surges to low-lying areas, according to the National Hurricane Center.
In a 5 p.m. EDT posting on its website, the center said a hurricane warning was in effect for parts of the southwestern coast of Florida while a tropical storm warning was in effect along the eastern coast.
The storm was about 145 miles south of Ft. Myers and moving north at about 12 mph, according to the center.
Fay was expected to pick up speed as it moved northward, along the western edge of the state. The storm was not expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico, where major offshore oil facilities are located.
The National Hurricane Center's website said the storm was expected to reach hurricane force, at least 74 mph, by 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday. It was predicted to drop back to tropical storm status before hitting Georgia on Thursday.
The storm could drop between four and eight inches of rain, according to the hurricane center, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Roughly 25,000 people had left the Keys, Monroe County Mayor Mario Di Gennaro said, but some bars and restaurants remained open, albeit with crowds considerably thinner than typical for this time of year. At the Stuffed Pig restaurant in Marathon, about a dozen locals were eating breakfast Monday morning.
"We always prepare, we don't take it lightly," owner Michael Cinque said. "We might roll down the shutters. We got built-in generators."
Willie Dykes, 58, and Essy Pastrana, 48, live on a sailboat in Key West, and they said they weren't going anywhere. The pair were filling up gas cans Monday morning and buying supplies that included food, water and whiskey.
"We're going to ride it out," Dykes said, his fluffy white beard blowing sideways in the wind. "We're not worried about it. We've seen this movie before."
Fay, the sixth named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, left at least five people dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In Haiti, a bus overturned while trying to traverse a river surging with rain, creating fears that up to 30 people were dead. U.N. police spokesman Fred Blaise said later that 41 people had escaped, but peacekeepers saw the bodies of two infants who had drowned in the Riviere Glace. Peacekeepers also found the body of a man who drowned in the river but was not on the bus, he said.
