Eta continues to dump heavy rain on waterlogged Florida

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.

The storm slogged ashore near Cedar Key, Florida, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. The National Hurricane Center in Miami predicted Eta would then move northeast across Florida as it loses strength. Eta briefly gained hurricane strength Wednesday morning, but forecasters said it later weakened to tropical storm status.

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 when Mixon stepped into the water, he was killed, Saur said.

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

There were no other immediate reports of any injuries or serious damage in the Tampa Bay area as the storm skirted past that region Wednesday afternoon.

On Thursday morning, much of the Tampa Bay area was under a storm surge warning. The storm forced officials to close some lanes on two of the three bridges that cross Tampa Bay, connecting the St. Petersburg area to Tampa, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which links Pinellas and Manatee counties, was closed Wednesday but reopened after winds died down Thursday morning.

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,“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.“

She said there was also some debris on the patio.

“I’ve been here almost 8 years and we’ve never had water damage,“Brewer said. “This is the worst I’ve seen.“

LYNNE SLADKY/AP People walk past a boat beached by Tropical Storm Eta on Thursday in Gulfport, Fla. Eta dumped torrents of blustery rain on Florida’s west coast as it slogged over the state and made landfall near Cedar Key.