Eta soaks Florida, races to Atlantic

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. >> Tropical Storm Eta dumped blustery rain across north Florida after landfall Thursday morning north of the heavily populated Tampa Bay area, and then sped out into the Atlantic off of the neighboring coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas.

Some flooding was reported, but no major damage though one death in Florida was linked to the storm. Some parts of the Carolinas saw three to seven inches of rainfall by Thursday afternoon due to a combination of moisture carried by the cold front that pushed Eta across Florida and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico brought in by the tropical system.

That’s led to flash flooding, multiple water rescues and road closures, and at least one collapsed bridge, said Sandy LaCourte, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Greenville, South Carolina.

“It’s unfortunately been a tough day for the Carolinas today,” LaCourte said.

Earlier, Eta slogged ashore near Cedar Key, Florida, before moving northeast across the state, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. The storm emerged into Atlantic waters early Thursday afternoon and was forecast to pass just offshore of South Carolina and North Carolina as it races up the Southeast seaboard through this morning.

In Bradenton Beach, F lor id a , Ma rk Mi xon stepped into his flooded garage as he was laying sandbags around his home on Wednesday evening and was electrocuted, said Jacob Saur, director of public safety for Manatee County.