Evacuations Ordered, Water Rescue as Rain Continues to Hammer Gulf Coast

Eric Chaney
Published: August 9,2016
Flooding in Florida has led to at least one rescue as rain continues to fall across the Gulf Coast region.
Emergency crews in Taylor County had to save a woman who was stranded after trying to drive through water over the road, WTXL reports. Emergency Management says they were able to bring her to safety but she was taken to the hospital.
"Turn around don't drown, that's just not a saying that we take lightly, especially if there's any moving water, it only takes just you know a foot or so for a vehicle to float and someone to, their vehicle to wash off the roadway into deeper water,"Taylor county Emergency Management Director, Steve Spradley, told the station.
Flooding in Taylor County has only occurred in small pockets, but it's been enough to block off several roads, WCTV reports.
Mandatory evacuations were ordered for the Fort Pickens campground on Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola in response to the anticipation of intense rain and flooding still on the way, WEAR reports.
"Abundant tropical moisture and a slow-moving area of low pressure aloft will fuel heavy rains not only along the Gulf Coast, but also in other parts of the South this week," said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. "Localized rainfall totals in a few areas may reach 12 inches when all is said and done later this week."
In Largo, raw sewage flowed from several manholes across the city Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Once the weather improves, environmental officials said they'd figure out how much sewage escaped from the manholes during the storms, the report added.
Emergency services crews in Pasco County have been pumping flood water into tanker trucks and hauling it off, WFLA reports.
“We’ve had public works crews out over the weekend, 24 hours a day," said Kevin Guthrie, Pasco emergency services director. “We saw with some of the models, we were going to get 11 to 15 inches of rain so we knew we needed to get way ahead of that, and it is paying off now because we are ahead of it and we only have a few neighborhoods that we’re seeing problems with right now,."

A shelf cloud moves over Orlando Monday morning.
(Instagram/z_e_photography)

Wet roads may have played a role in several accidents around the region as well.
Police in St. Petersburg are investigating a fatal single-car accident in which the adult male driver hit a tree and flipped the car onto its side, Fox 13 reported. Though it's unclear whether the crash is related to weather conditions, photos of the wreck show that roads were wet at the time of the accident.
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In Tampa, rescue crews were working to free a car trapped under an overturned tanker truck, which was full of fuel, Fox 13 also reported.
The heavy rainfall also forced the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to move inside for the day and hold Training Camp workouts at the domed Tropicana Field – the home of the Tampa Bay Rays – in St. Petersburg, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
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