Tropical Storm Fay

Hi everyone, it's Anthony. I believe this is the first time I have made a post to "our" blog and I wish I had better news to talk about. But here goes.

As many of you know, Carrie and Ansleigh have been in Anniston visiting Lolli and Pop for the last week or so and boy have they missed a lot of things here in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area. Specifically, they have missed the first Tropical Storm to hit the area since we moved to Palm Bay. Despite the fact that the eye of the storm passed right over our house, we have not had any damage to our property. The big story is, as all the media is saying, "epic" and "historical" amounts of rainfall. Tropical Storm Fay didn't weaken over land as most tropical storms/hurricanes normally do. It made landfall and maintained its strength with sustained winds around 60 mph at the stongest points and it headed straight for us. It approached us from the southwest and if you follow hurricanes at all you know that the northeast quadrant of hurricanes is the worst for the bad weather such as rain, hail, and tornadoes that spin off. There were a few tornadoes that touched down, one of which was about 20 miles to the south of us. Luckily, there weren't any closer than that. Yesterday, there were really high winds here and lots and lots of rain.

As the media keeps saying, we are getting historical amounts of rain. Once Fay got to us, it almost completely stopped moving and just continued dumping rain on us for 2 days straight. The average rainfall for Brevard County for the month of August is about 5.65". Well, in the last 2 days, we have gotten between 16-20" of rain with some parts of Melbourne getting more than 25". It is predicted that we will get more than 30" by the time Fay finally goes away. It is crazy how much rain we are getting. There is flooding everywhere with streets looking like rivers and people actually out in canoes and kids on body boards as if they are out in the ocean. Speaking of that, it makes it even crazier that there is so much flooding considering we are mere miles from the best retention pond you could have (the Atlantic Ocean). I even saw some stupid people on my street riding on a mattress being towed behind a truck. Crazy! People are also trying to get out and drive around for some strange reason and the roads are so flooded that their cars are stalling and having to be towed away. Conditions have been so dangerous, that most businesses in the county have been closed yesterday and today including Harris Corporation, the large company that I work for. So, unfortunately, I have been home from work. I say unfortunately because I have been sitting at home for that last 2 days, I'm by myself, I can't really go anywhere because of the conditions, and now, including tomorrow, I will have to go to work on some Saturdays coming up to make up for the days missed this week.

It looks like Fay is finally moving out and the water that was flowing down our street is finally draining away. Before all the water washed away, though, I was able to snap some pictures today. Since Carrie has our camera, these pictures were taken with my phone, but you can clearly see what our county was facing the last few days.

First two are at the bottom of our driveway.
Looking South

Looking North

This last one looks like a normal canal except that it is MANY FEET higher than normal and the water is moving swiftly. I wish I had a picture from a normal day to compare it to. This is the canal that is adjacent to our back yard.

It has been an interesting first tropical storm experience and I'm sure it will not be our last. I'm very thankful that we didn't suffer any damage and also very thankful that I didn't even lose power. I'm not afraid to admit I am spoiled when it comes to having power. I don't know what I would have done had we lost power.