Eta soaks Florida, races to Atlantic off Georgia, Carolinas

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 Friday morning.

At 4 p. m., the storm was centered about 90 miles south- southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. It had top sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving to the northeast at 18 mph.

Although it was not the most powerful storm to hit the U.S. this year, Eta still had broad impact across the Tampa Bay region, which is home to more than 3.5 million people across five coastal counties. No mandatory evacuations were ordered, but authorities opened shelters for anyone needing them. Local media reported only a handful of people showed up.

In Bradenton Beach, Florida, Mark Mixon 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. There were appliances plugged into the garage and Mixon was killed when he stepped into the water, Saur said.

Rescue crews had to wait for Florida Power and Light, which was responding to power outages from the storm, to shut down the electrical grid for the neighborhood where Mixon lived before they could assist, Saur said.

The storm did force closure of some lanes of Tampa Bay bridges because of storm surge but they were reopening Thursday. Also reopening was the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which links Pinellas and Manatee counties.