Washington - Tropical Storm Fay made its fourth landfall in Florida on Saturday, drenching the state with torrential rains as it moved westward. At least 12 people have died in storm-related accidents - 11 in Florida and one in Georgia - as Fay criss-crossed the area over the last three days, CNN reported.
The storm came ashore again early Saturday in the northeast of Apalachicola, the National Hurricane Centre in Miami said. Fay was moving west at 11 kilometres per hour.
Over the next two days Fay was expected to produce 15 to 30 centimetres of rain in the states of Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana. Isolated tornadoes were possible in parts of northern Florida, and southern Georgia and Alabama, the centre said.
The storm came ashore in Florida for the third time on Thursday, flooding roads, damaging homes and crops, and leading President George W Bush to declare an emergency - a move that would provide federal funds for relief efforts.
Fay first hit Florida on Monday at its southern tip, Key West, and then crossed the south-western portion of the peninsula before again moving offshore.
It earlier left as many as 50 people dead in flooding and landslides in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
