Tropical Storm Helene Soaks Fla.

P O R T   S T.   J O E, Fla., Sept. 22 -- Tropical Storm Helene came ashore atdaybreak today in the Florida Panhandle, bringing bands of heavyrains but causing only minor damage before leaving the state as atropical depression.

Helene had dumped 7.75 inches of rain on Tallahassee by 2 p.m.,flooding roads, ditches and a couple of apartment buildings, saidAnn Rowe, a spokeswoman for the Florida Division of EmergencyManagement.

The storm spun off at least six tornados south of Tallahassee inWakulla and Franklin counties but no significant damage wasreported in the lightly populated area, officials said.

Power outages left 5,000 people in the dark, flights werecanceled at Tallahassee’s airport and city buses stopped runningduring the storm, Tallahassee officials said.

Schools throughout the Panhandle and state offices inTallahassee had closed in anticipation of the storm.

Helene’s center made landfall with top winds near 45 mph atabout 8 a.m. near Fort Walton Beach, but the heaviest rain of up to8 inches was 100 to 150 miles east of the center, includingTallahassee.

No Complaints

“We get geared up and don’t get hit; who’s complaining?” saidCraig Fugate, leader of the state’s emergency response team inTallahassee.

The main reason for no complaints was that Helene weakened frompeak sustained winds of 65 mph before making landfall. Furtherrapid weakening was occurring as the storm moved on anorth-northeast track taking its rains into Alabama, Georgia andthe Carolinas later today, forecasters said.

The center of Helene, downgraded to a tropical depression withmaximum sustained winds of 35 mph, was 20 miles north of Dothan,Ala., at 2 p.m. It was moving northeast at 16 mph.

“What storm?” asked Charles Ingram, 62, a retired paper millworker at breakfast at Linda’s Restaurant in Port St. Joe, whichgot some of the heaviest rains.

“There’s an awful lot of water standing around, which weneed,” Ingram said. “We had a lot of lightning, a lot of rain,but not much damage. It’s just business as usual. We planned forit, sandbagged and everything, but it didn’t come.”