August 25, 2008
Local6, Orlando
DEBARY, Fla. -- The St. Johns River is about seven feet higher than it was before Tropical Storm Fay moved through the region and will continue to cause problems for flooded neighborhoods for weeks.
Photo: National Guard troops search for resident in need of help in the flooded Lamplighter Village neighborhood of Melbourne, FL after TX Fay hit the area. (John Raoux / AP)
Officials said the St. Johns River was not expected to crest until later this week, meaning several inches more of flooding for families living near Lake Harney, Lake Monroe, Lake Kathryn and Lake Jesup.
"It's like trying to drain the Atlantic Ocean with a straw," DeBary's Bob Karbonic told Local 6's Tiffany Tift Monday. "This will take a good month going around the clock."
The city of DeBary has about 100 tanker trucks working overtime to clear water from flooded city streets Monday.
Officials with Federal Emergency Management Agency will be in Seminole and Volusia County assessing the damage this week.
MORE HOMES WILL GO UNDER
Meanwhile, search and rescue teams evacuated families from 180 DeBary homes on Sunday in an area that will see more homes go under water even without any additional rain.
Officials said neighborhoods in DeBary were the worst hit in Volusia County during Tropical Storm Fay.
"I'm worried about you all," Mayor George Coleman said. "We've never had water this deep before. The water is still rising. Just because it is not coming from the sky does not mean it is not there. It is coming out of the ground. The St. Johns River is coming up and we are going to have some more problems."
Sky 6 showed several neighborhoods completely underwater and vehicles submerged.
The city had 30 pumps trying to lower the rising water Sunday and residents near the rising waters were urged to evacuate.
"If you are in an area we suggested vacate, then vacate," Coleman said. "If you don't, you take that upon yourself to not take our advice and stay. We can't make you leave. We can't give you tickets and we can't put you in jail for not leaving. That is your property and you deserve to try and protect it if that is your choice. But that might be the wrong choice."
The Red Cross was handing out cleaning supplies to flood victims Sunday and opened two shelters.
The first shelter was opened at St. Ann's Catholic Church and a pet-friendly shelter at the fairgrounds.
Photo: Iris Eisenberg leaves her fglooded home near the St. Johns river in Jacksonville, Fla, during Tropical Storm Fay on Friday (Stephen Morton / Getty)
The storm has been blamed for 13 deaths in the U.S.
BREVARD CONSIDERED MAJOR DISASTER AREA
President George W. Bush declared Sunday that four Florida counties hit hardest by Tropical Storm Fay are major disaster areas, making them eligible for federal aid.
The declaration makes funds available for emergency work and repairs to governments in Brevard, Monroe, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties.
State and federal emergency officials are still assessing the damage from the weeklong storm that caused at least 11 deaths in Florida and one in Georgia. More counties could be added. The funding has not yet been extended to individual homeowners whose properties were damaged by high winds or flood waters.
"I'm pleased about the declaration and grateful to President Bush," Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said before touring flood damage at the St. Mark's River in north Florida.
Mary Blakeney, spokeswoman for the emergency management office in Okeechobee County, said officials hope to have a decision in coming days about individual home owner assistance.
"Those calls have been coming in ... and, at this point, we have some teams coming in that will be doing a more detailed assessment where they will be going into these homes and looking at what type of damage they've had," Blakeney said.
Fay was downgraded to a tropical depression on Saturday night after making a record fourth landfall in Florida. Its remnants were forecast to dump several inches of rain across Alabama,
Mississippi, eastern Louisiana and Tennessee on Sunday and Monday. Some of those areas have been suffering long-term drought conditions.
In Huntsville, Ala., National Weather Service senior forecaster Andy Kula said the 5-day rainfall projection through Friday -- 6 to 7 inches south of the Tennessee River and 3 to 4 inches north of the river -- would spread out and was not expected to create a flood problem.
"We need something like this to recharge the soil. It probably won't be a total drought-buster," Kula said Sunday.
http://www.local6.com/weather/17285610/detail.html