Tropical Storm Eta dumps blustery rain on Fla. west coast

Tropical Storm Eta dumped torrents of blustery rain on Florida’s west coast as it moved over Florida after making landfall north of the heavily populated Tampa Bay area Thursday morning, triggering some flooding but no major damage.

The storm slogged ashore near Cedar Key, Florida, and was moving northeast across the state, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. Its maximum winds had fallen by early afternoon to 40 mph and it was located about 40 miles northeast of Jacksonville.

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 and was linked to at least one death there.

In Bradenton Beach, 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.

There were no other reports of any injuries or serious damage.

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.

J.P. Brewer, owner of Salty’s

Gulfport, was cleaning up after her beachside restaurant flooded Thursday morning.

“It was pretty bad last night when I came in,” she said, adding that there were already 3 to 4 inches of water inside by just before high tide. “We’re in here doing our cleanup today and assessing the damage. I think we fared pretty well considering as bad as it looked last night.”