Gov. Crist Tours Flooded Cities
Initial damage estimates for a one of the most flooded cities in Central Florida will top $10 million and leave hundreds of homes with water damage.Several hundred homes in Melbourne have three to four feet of standing water inside of them Thursday after days of pounding rain from Tropical Storm Fay, Local 6's News partner Florida Today reported.The city of Melbourne's emergency manager said the $10 to $12 million damage estimate does not include the Lamplighter Village community-which is submerged under chest-high water.Gov. Charlie Crist toured Lamplighter Village-a community of 600 homes near Interstate 95-in a swamp buggy."I couldn't believe all of the water," Crist said.Crist said the area is the worse hit-by far, Local 6's Adam Longo reported."We've lived through several hurricanes and (I have seen) nothing like this," flood victim Timothy Tucker said.There is still about four or five feet of standing water in and around Lamplighter homes."I saw water in my house and I'm like, 'Oh my God,'" Lamplighter Village resident Wayne Wyckoff said. "Cars were stuck and wreckers were pulling them out and I knew that I was going to lose everything. Everything is flooded. I lost everything."The National Guard has been the only personnel allowed into the subdivision to help the remaining people still inside their homes.There are five shelters in the county with about 106 people inside. However, the number was expected to grow Thursday night.Also, the Department of Natural Resources said a preliminary estimate of damage to the Brevard County beaches is about $2.6 million.
Tourist Drowns
A woman on vacation with her husband in Daytona Beach died after being pulled from the ocean, which is producing rough waves and rip currents because of Tropical Storm Fay, Beach Patrol officials said."This is a sad thing for us," Scott Petersohn said. "This is what we've been trying to avoid this whole Fay event."The 35-year-old woman from New York, whose name has not been released, was pulled to shore Thursday afternoon by bystanders and taken to Halifax Hospital, where she later died, Petersohn said.According to Beach Patrol officials, the couple, who was staying at a Daytona Beach hotel, went for a swim in the ocean when a large wave crashed down on them. The woman's husband was able to make it back to shore, but the woman vanished after apparently being knocked unconscious. She was then pulled to shore.No lifeguards were on duty, but Beach Patrol officials have been warning beachgoers to stay out of the water because of the dangers presented by Tropical Storm Fay."It's a sad thing to have something like that happen," Petersohn said.The death marks the first Fay-related fatality in Central Florida.
As in the days of Noah...