Florida Really Got Hammered This Weekend!

I was in contact with Dwight in Tampa all weekend long, and the news from there wasn't so good.

Dwight wrote:

Subject: YIKES - We are getting clobbered by serious rain

Marc - The subject line says it all. This is the heaviest continuous rain I have even seen in the 8 years since we moved here, including all the hurricanes we had in 2004 and 2005. There is a possibility we could see some flooding where we live and we are not located in a flood plain. I’m sure there will be a lot of flooding in the Tampa area. Here is link to the local Doppler radar for our area.

I replied:

I'm very sorry to hear about this. It looks as if there is a very narrow beam of heavy rainfall coming in from the SW, and even if the system moved a little it wouldn't be so bad, but it looks like it's staying put. I'm hoping storm intensity will drop after sunset - it looks like it might - and give you guys precious hours for water drainage.

Dwight replied:

Marc – FYI, here is a copy of a note I received a few minutes ago from a friend who lives in the St, Pete area:

It is very nasty. Just cleaned out my closet under the stairs because of all the tornadoes touching down (needed room for Max [her dog] too!). Just heard the Skyway is closing due to high winds and incoming high tide is, so far, 5 feet above normal. Lots of street flooding, downed trees, people getting rescued from their cars. Think I’ll eat in tonight!

I replied:

It looks like it will continue raining for the next 2 days. Kind of an agony.

The system seems to be splitting into two parts. The western part will head to Louisiana. The eastern part will head up the Atlantic seaboard, and eventually out to sea.