Having never reached hurricane strength, Tropical Storm Fay will long be remembered as an epic storm that continued to devastate Brevard County on Wednesday with nonstop torrential rains that backed up sewers and flooded streets, ponds, pools and homes.
And there appears to be no end in sight.
Forecasts predict downpours from the slow-moving storm will fall in Brevard through Friday.
With urgency in his voice Wednesday night, Emergency Management Director Bob Lay called the storm -- which has dropped more than 20 inches of rain on parts of Brevard County since Monday -- a "very negative situation." Five to 10 inches more of rain is possible today in Brevard, forecasters said.
"Canals are absolutely full and overflowing. Retention ponds are absolutely full and overflowing," Lay said. "Gravity is moving most of the water, and there is nowhere for it to go."
Gov. Charlie Crist went a step further, calling the storm "catastrophic," as he requested an emergency disaster declaration from the federal government to defray emergency costs. The White House said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing the request.
The storm has crippled the county's ability to do business. Public schools and many government offices remain closed today for a third consecutive day. Kennedy Space Center is closed as well, and there will be no buses running for Space Coast Area Transit. Meals on Wheels -- a program that provides lunch to the homebound elderly -- also has been suspended for another day.
Satellite Beach imposed an overnight curfew to keep cars off the roads.
"None of us expected 30 inches of rain with this one," Lay said. "This storm was unusual and unique."
Lay and Sheriff Jack Parker warned residents to stay safe and have patience during a day that saw:
The swift currents swept the kids downstream as they screamed in panic.
T.J. Riley was playing in his yard with his 4-year-old son, T.J., and dog Mojo in the Golf Club Estates, when he heard a commotion at the bridge and spotted "a head bobbin' up and down."
Riley jumped into the creek and saved the boy from the raging waters.
"Luckily, he got hung up on an oak tree over there, and I swam out and got him back," Riley said.
Meteorologist Dave Sharp, with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, said the rainfall total for Melbourne from Fay was 17.87, only inches from the month's record of 19.05 inches, set in 1995, when Hurricane Erin pelted Brevard.
"Oh, yes, this is historic. We used the words historic back then for 9- to 12-inch totals, and we're using it again now," he said. "The irony of this is that the same areas in north Melbourne that were flooded during Erin are flooding again now."
Sharp said Fay was comparable to tropical storms Alberto (2006) and Allison (2001), which dumped similar amounts of rain in North Florida and Houston, respectively.
In Palm Bay, the city was dotted with stranded motorists and closed-off streets as the C-1 Canal had risen about 15 feet from Monday's level. By late Wednesday, some homeowners had started calling police for help with evacuating. Others complained that the rising water was bringing catfish with it into the streets.
Melbourne's low-lying Fountainhead neighborhood was one of those areas affected by Erin in 1995. By Wednesday afternoon, victims waded for blocks through chest-deep gray water to pick up food and other supplies, and fishing boats motored up and down the subdivision.
Homeowners battled rising waters using sandbags, plywood, silicone sealant and other means.
Fountainhead resident Mike Hunter drove his camouflage-painted, deer head-emblazoned 460 Continental airboat up and down various streets for hours, helping evacuate his stranded neighbors. He estimated the water's depth at 5 feet on some streets.
Sheriff Jack Parker urged drivers to go slowly through flooded streets, so as not to create a wake that could reach homes.
Melbourne resident John Graves and his neighbors stopped a truck from entering their flooded Parkway Meadows subdivision. With water already in his garage, Graves was trying to keep it from his living room.
"The only water I got inside so far is from idiots driving through," he said, while watching neighborhood kids surf in the street, while others kayaked. The water was waist-high in some spots.
With the entrance to the subdivision under water, neighbor Sam Adams spent the day at home.
"The Firebird wouldn't get too far," he said. "Whatever is stopping up that drainage down there needs to get cleared out."
While the sluggish storm's deluge concentrated mainly on Central Brevard, residents in the north remained relatively dry. Rainfall totaled less than 2 inches in some areas in Titusville by the evening.
The Titusville Emergency Operations Center at the Titusville Police Department worked no major emergencies, and canceled a shift that was to begin at 6 p.m. Staff will return at 6 a.m. today, said Scott Gaenicke, spokesman for the Titusville Fire and Emergency Services.
Local historian Weona Cleveland was at a loss to remember a storm with significantly more rain and flooding than this one.
"I can't remember if we've had this much flooding," Cleveland said. "I know that, during Hurricane Erin in 1995, Crane Creek went up over its banks and flooded the Florida Air Academy property."
University of Central Florida associate professor Naim Kapucu has been studying the public's preparedness and complacency since the 2004 hurricanes barreled through Central Florida. He said, normally, only a little more than 10 percent of the public is truly prepared for a storm.
That number probably is much less this time around, because of the forecasts that Fay would punish Florida's West Coast before coming through toward Brevard.
"This storm is so slow-moving and has a lot more rain than predicted," Kapucu said. "No one expected this. It never reached hurricane strength, so people didn't take it seriously."
County and emergency officials are planning to begin preliminary damage assessment later today.
Staff writers Kaustuv Basu, Megan Downs, J.D. Gallop, Jessica Raynor and Jim Waymer contributed to this report. Contact Torres at 242-3649 or jtorres@floridatoday.com.
