APALACHICOLA, Fla. --- Fay just won't quit.
The tropical storm that set a record with four landfalls in Florida chugged west across the Gulf Coast on Saturday, and cities from Pensacola to New Orleans prepared for several inches of rain.
Proving that a slow-moving tropical storm can be as deadly and damaging as a hurricane, Fay killed at least 11 people in Florida, emergency officials said.
Thousands of homes and businesses were inundated with floodwaters this week as the storm worked its way north from its first landfall in the Florida Keys and zigzagged across the peninsula.
Fay's center made its fourth landfall around 1 a.m. Saturday about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, according to the National Hurricane Center. While the landfall was mostly uneventful in that area, bands of heavy rain and high winds comprising the eastern half of the storm pelted inland areas.
Rains and strong wind gusts blitzed Tallahassee for more than 24 hours, knocking down trees and power lines and cutting electricity to more than 12,000 customers, city officials said.
At 5 p.m., the storm's center was moving west at about 7 mph. Forecasters said they expected Fay to remain a tropical storm through Saturday and weaken the longer it remained over land.
Warnings and watches west of the Alabama-Mississippi border were discontinued, but a tropical storm warning remained for the northeastern Gulf Coast from Suwanee River, Fla., west to the Alabama-Mississippi border.
As winds picked up and skies darkened along Pensacola Beach, Alex Davis took his morning jog. The longtime beach resident said he wasn't too worried.
"I doubt we'll see any flooding out here. The wind is starting to sting a little but that's about it," he said.
But emergency officials in low-lying cities in Fay's path weren't taking any chances.
In the New Orleans area, which is approaching the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, emergency officials were monitoring the storm and telling residents of the need to avoid low areas that could flood.
City officials in Slidell, La., where forecasters predicted 3 to 5 inches of rain could fall late today and through Monday, said emergency vehicles had been fueled and workers were on call.
Forecasts called for 1 to 3 inches of rain in the New Orleans area, on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. In St. Bernard Parish, the site of some of the worst post-Katrina flooding, emergency officials were handing out sandbags to residents.
Sandbags also were distributed in Ocean Springs, Gulfport and Biloxi on the Mississippi coast Saturday. No shelters had been opened, but officials said they were monitoring the storm.
The Air Force Reserve's 403rd Wing evacuated aircraft Saturday from Keesler Air Force Base to locations in South Florida and Texas. The 403rd includes planes known as "hurricane hunters" that officials said would be available to continue to monitor Fay and other disturbances.
Florida's Office of Insurance Regulation reported Saturday that roughly 6,700 homeowners had filed claims, although only some were because of flooding.
GEORGIA DROWNING
VALDOSTA, Ga. --- A 10-year-old boy drowned while playing in a drainage ditch as Tropical Storm Fay pounded southwest Georgia with rain, A Grady County emergency official said.
County Emergency Management Director Jim Ellis said the boy was apparently overcome by rushing waters in the ditch as the storm dumped 10 to 12 inches of rain in the area. The boy's name was not immediately released.
Fay was blamed for widespread outages across southern Georgia. A Georgia Power spokeswoman said about 6,100 customers were without electricity Saturday.
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