Local & State Headlines

EMA prepares for Fay

• Forecasters predict 1-6 inches of rain from a tropical storm system that’s expected to pass well south of Albany.

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — Emergency management officials are breathing a little easier today as the remnants of what once was Tropical Storm Fay lumbers across north Florida in a trajectory they think will skirt the Good Life City.

In a conference call with EMA directors throughout the expected affected areas Wednesday, officials with the National Weather Service updated their forecast models into two likely scenarios for Fay’s march across the Sunshine State.

“Now they’re saying that it will basically follow I-10 (Interstate Highway 10) across Florida and either head just north of Tallahassee or turn and go south of Tallahassee and back into the Gulf,” Dougherty County EMA Director and Fire Chief James Carswell said. “It means mostly rain for us either way.”

Calling it a fluid situation, Carswell said Fay had slowed to a crawl as it made its westward turn just below Jacksonville Wednesday. It’s expected to move through the panhandle region of Florida Saturday morning.

“It’s going to be a rain event for us, but some of more southern counties could see some rough weather, especially the ones on the Florida line,” Deputy EMA Director Jim Vaught said.

Worst-case scenario for Albany would mean 4 to 6 inches of rain and light wind. Should the storm take a more southerly route, 1 to 3 inches of rain is likely, Vaught said.

Today, Carswell and Vaught are meeting with other EMA directors from the 23-county Georgia Emergency Management Agency Region 2 in Tifton for their scheduled meeting. Fay is expected to be the topic of discussion.

“We have agreements with our neighboring counties and with the other counties in Region 2 so that should they need our assistance, we’ll be there to help them out,” Vaught said. “It’s all for one and one for all here.”

In Albany, city and county officials opened their joint Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to begin testing radio and phone operations in the unlikely event they should need the center during the storm, Vaught said.

Vaught was also plugging the city’s Code Red warning system which utilizes a reverse-911 type of system that calls listed numbers if a tornado or natural disaster is bearing down in the path of the user.

Anyone wishing to sign up can follow the directions on the city’s Web page, Vaught said.

The likely scenario for Albany is much tamer than what was being experienced in Florida Wednesday as Fay drenched the state for the third consecutive day. Emergency crews launched airboats into submerged streets Wednesday to rescue central Florida residents trapped by rising floodwaters.

Calling the flooding “catastrophic,” Gov. Charlie Crist requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray rising debris and response costs. The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.

Flooding was reported in hundreds of homes in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, some by up to five feet of standing water. In three towns, rising waters backed up sewage systems. It wasn’t immediately clear how many residents had been displaced or were stranded, but county officials reported making dozens of rescues.

The likely scenario for Albany is much tamer than what was being experienced in Florida Wednesday as Fay drenched the state for the third consecutive day.

Emergency crews launched airboats into submerged streets Wednesday to rescue central Florida residents trapped by rising floodwaters.

Calling the flooding “catastrophic,” Gov. Charlie Crist requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray rising debris and response costs. The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.

Flooding was reported in hundreds of homes in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, some by up to 5 feet of standing water. In three towns, rising waters backed up sewage systems. It wasn’t immediately clear how many residents had been displaced or were stranded, but county officials reported making dozens of rescues.

The storm could dump 30 inches of rain in some areas of Florida and the National Hurricane Center said up to 22 inches had already fallen near Melbourne, just south of Cape Canaveral on the state’s central Atlantic coast, by late Wednesday afternoon.

Forecasters originally expected Fay to energize over the ocean and possibly become a hurricane before landing in Florida for the third time later this week. The erratic storm first struck Monday in the Florida Keys, then veered out to sea before traversing east across the state, briefly strengthening, then stalling. For much of Wednesday, the storm barely moved, dumping inches and inches of rain over coastal central Florida.

Fay formed over the weekend in the Atlantic and was blamed for 20 deaths in the Caribbean before hitting Florida’s southwest coast, where it first fell short of predictions it could be a Category 1 hurricane when it came ashore.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.