Tropical storm Fay has crossed to the east coast of the US state of Florida where it is again threatening to develop into a hurricane.
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A hurricane watch has been posted for parts of north Florida and Georgia.
Fay formed over the weekend in the Atlantic and had been blamed for at least a dozen deaths in the Caribbean.
A state of emergency had been declared for what is the sixth tropical storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, but officials dropped the hurricane warning early on Tuesday after Fay made landfall near Naples.
The storm brought drenching rain and winds of 65mph (100km/h) across the state.
Several tornadoes were also reported, with one ripping through Brevard County damaging more than 50 homes.
Fay then reached Florida's east coast at 0200 local time (0600 GMT) on Wednesday, about 15 miles (24km) south-southeast of Melbourne. Its maximum sustained winds remained near 50mph (80km/h).
A hurricane watch was in effect for the east coast north of Flagler Beach, Florida, to Altamaha Sound, Georgia.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist said Fay "looked like it would become a hurricane".
In south-east Georgia, Camden County officials have sent out teams to clean out storm drains and ditches in preparation for possible flooding.
The Georgia Emergency Management Agency has also started a 24-hour monitoring operation of the storm.
Hope for farmers
A forecast from the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday predicted that the storm's path would take it through Alabama over the weekend.
However, the heavy rain has not been bad news for everyone. Farmers in drought-hit areas of southern Georgia are hoping for a visit from Fay.
"It's very seldom we're hoping for a hurricane, but we are," said Randy Branch, a cotton and peanut farmer in south-east Georgia. "We need some rain pretty bad."
Initially, Fay drenched parts of Cuba, but its passage over Haiti and the Dominican Republic was more destructive, with more than a dozen deaths reported.
(BBC)
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