Florida Now In 5th Day Of Drenching From Fay - Dumping "Absurd Amounts Of Rain" - SunSent

[hatrack]

EDIT

At 8 p.m. Thursday, Fay's top sustained winds were still estimated at 60 mph, and bands of heavy rain extended up the coast into Georgia. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center warned of possible tornadoes and up to 10 inches of rainfall. The storm reportedly claimed the lives of two swimmers Thursday afternoon. A 21-year-old Indiana woman drowned about 12:30 p.m. in rough surf off Neptune Beach, east of Jacksonville. About 90 minutes later, a 35-year-old New York woman succumbed while in the ocean at Daytona Beach, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

In Fay's wake were various one-day local record rainfall totals, including more than 8 inches in the Melbourne area. A South Florida Water Management District gauge in Fort Pierce registered 12.61 inches through 8 a.m. Thursday. But not even Fay could not touch the state's all-time 24-hour total, 38.7 inches that fell in Yankeetown, Levy County, during Hurricane Easy on Sept 5, 1950.

Still, Fay was dumping "absurd amounts of rain," in the words of state climatologist David Zierden at the Florida Climate Center at Florida State University, just as the state was struggling to recover from a two-year drought.

Lake Okeechobee rose to 12.22 feet above sea level on Thursday, and stormwater runoff still flowing in from Fay is expected to push the lake closer to 13 feet, according to the water district. At this time last year, the lake was 9.56 feet, and two years ago it was 11.99 feet. Normal is about 14 feet.

EDIT

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flbfay0822sbaug22,0,1405312.story

[WhiteTara]

1. too bad, so sad if they need

federal help

[DrDan]

4. on its way . . .

[ben_meyers]

5. Too Bad! What's the problem?

A year ago the "experts" were panicking that the Okeechobee was going to dry up and never recover. Florida has needed a good soaking for years. If a lot of people are inconvenienced because they are living in former wetlands, well they should have done their research. You can't drain the swamps and build tract housing and not expect some flooding. The environment is just restoring what was there before.

[WhiteTara]

6. actually I was being sarcastic

and forgot the little sarcasm thingie. If it weren't for our good DU friends living in Florida, I would wish all their little houses to get Katrina'd.

I hope the Okefenokee gets all the water it needs. I think we are going to get a good soaking in the northwest this year too.

[sabbat hunter]

8. unfortunately

The need the rain in the Everglades and at Lake Okeechobee. Most of the rain was north of that area. A lot of the areas flooding were not former wetlands, but are simply lowlying. Additionally any land will flood when you get 20" of rain in 24 hours. No ground can absorb that much that quickly.

[ben_meyers]

9. My bad, I thought the article said

"Lake Okeechobee rose to 12.22 feet above sea level on Thursday, and stormwater runoff still flowing in from Fay is expected to push the lake closer to 13 feet," and that Lake Okeechobee was considered the northern part of the Everglades.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

10. Problems with the pumping stations perhaps?? They should

be able to handle pretty much anything nature conjures up. One would think.

www.SFWMD.gov



The South Florida Water Management District is a regional governmental agency responsible for water quality, flood control, water supply and environmental restoration in 16 counties, from Orlando to the Florida Keys. It is the oldest and largest of the state's five water management districts.

The District manages and protects water resources on behalf of 7.5 million South Floridians, and is the lead agency in restoring America's Everglades -- the largest environmental project in the nation's history.

SFWMD Citizen Information Line activated for
Tropical Storm Fay: [phone]

[DrDan]

2. from Port Orange - just outside of Daytona

15 inches as of this morning - and it finally looks like it is letting up . . .

[Mojorabbit]

7. Just east of Orlando here

and I checked my rain guage this morning. Eight inches and overflowing. I have no idea how much rain we got but I have branches down all over the yard. Looks like more rain from feeder bands today.

[NJCher]

3. here's an email from a friend who lives there

Hi Friends and Relatives,

Figured I better send out a blanket e-mail to you all.

Tuesday was a pretty scary day with tornado warnings, heavy squalls, and continuous rain. This went on for 24 hours.

I am fine and there is no flooding in my immediate area. Also, best of all my power never went out.

The dogs aren't too happy but in between rain bands, I physically toss them into the yard and they do what is necessary.

Plenty of food and wine in the house and most of all, dog biscuits.

As Fay moves further north and west, the rain bands get less and the skies just look cloudy and the sun is trying to peep through.

I am sure most of you have seen Melbourne on the weather channel this week. We are famous now. LOL.

Cheers,



Cher

[JohnWxy]

11. This is one of the characteristics of GLobal warming the climatologists predicted. MOre extremes:

The southeast has been going through drought conditions for a few years but more extreme weather also includes massive amounts of precipitation in a very short time. Making it hard to use the rainfall. (too bad they don't have some very large reservoirs around the state which could capture and hold some small percentage of the water for later use). At least some of the run-off could be captured.

[tom_paine]

12. Problem is: I think you need vertical topography to create a reservoir system

and most of Florida is as flat as a ping-pong table.