JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As Tropical Storm Fay continued its slow, wet trudge across the state Friday morning, many residents of northeast Florida and southeast Georgia spent Friday dealing with falling rain, rising water, power outages and wondering when it was all going to stop.

Channel 4 senior meteorologist John Gaughan says "soon."

The National Weather Service canceled the tropical storm warning at 5:15 p.m. A flood watch continues in effect.

Bands of rain that pelted Jacksonville and surrounding areas overnight continued through the day Friday. Hundreds of trees were down and power was out for thousands of homes -- at times more than 100,000.

At 3 p.m., after tracking potential tornados moving from St. Johns up to Nassau County for two hours, Channel 4 senior meteorologist John Gaughan said there's more to come, but probably not the intense squalls that have punished northeast Florida for the past 24 hours.

"We're now in this southerly flow on the very wet east side of Fay," Gaughan said. "There'll be a break in the action, but more rain will move on shore into the evening and one more night."

Friday morning, rain was falling at a rate of 1 inch per hour at WJXT's studios. Preliminary rainfall totals by 4 p.m. recorded 9.5 inches falling at Jacksonville International Airport, 6.5 inches at Mayport and Arlington, 6.2 inches in St. Augustine and 6 inches in Orange Park.

Channel 4 viewers across northeast Florida reported up to 15 inches in their rain gauges.

After hours of heavy rain, streets on the Westside, Riverside and San Marco were impassible due to flooding and water entered some homes and businesses.

More than 100 patients at a nursing home on Moncrief Road were evacuated by boat when water from a rising creek entered the first floor of the building. [Full story]

At noon, Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton urged people to stay home and off the roads and police announced they would close large parts of San Marco and Riverside to traffic during the afternoon's high tide, when the St. Johns River was overflowing onto neighboring streets.

While police could not provide a list of all the street closings, Channel 4 was told the JSO had 444 officers on duty at midday Friday, mostly responding to emergencies and managing road and bridge closures.

The Dames Point Bridge and the Mayport Ferry were still closed Friday. The Buckman Bridge has reopened after remaining closed most of Thursday afternoon and evening.

The Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine and the Shave Bridge connecting Amelia Island to Nassau County were intermittently closed due to wind and tidal flooding.

Mayport recorded a wind gust of 63 mph Thursday night and the National Weather Service at Jacksonville International Airport recorded a 61-mph gust. Over the last 12 hours, Craig Airport recorded a gust of 60 mph, 58 mph was measured at NAS Jacksonville, 57 mph at St. Augustine Airport and a gust of 49 mph was recorded at Brunswick's airport.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported that the Sun Cruz casino ship broke from its moorings at Mayport about 6 a.m. and ran aground near the Jacksonville's Pilot Station. A tug boat was able to get underway and tow the boat back to its dock with no significant damage or pollution.

Fay's Third Landfall

Fay never became a hurricane, but dropped a historic amount of rain over parts of Florida over the past four days.

After drifting ashore at Flagler Beach Thursday afternoon, the storm slowly moved inland across Flagler, Putnam and Alachua counties.

At 5 p.m., the storm's center was located 50 miles north f Cedar Key and moving west at 6 mph. Its maximum sustained winds were 45 mph -- down 5 mph overnight -- but enough to emerge into the emerge into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm.

The National Hurricane Center forecast Fay will make a fourth landfall in Florida -- near Panama City -- and perhaps another near Pensacola, prompting communities along the state's Gulf coast to brace for the same drenching rains that plagued the state's east coast for three days.

Two motorists in Duval County and one in Nassau County have died in traffic crashes blamed on the storm. Numerous others were injured in wrecks on slick area roads covered with storm debris.

Two people drowned in heavy surf Thursday -- one an Indiana tourist swimming at Neptune Beach -- as the storm came ashore in Flagler Beach, nudging Fay's total death toll to 25 after Haiti discovered three more bodies.

Northeast Florida, which had practically shut down for two days waiting for Fay to pass, continued to wait and watch. Almost all public schools again in northeast Florida were closed again Friday, since tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rain are expected to remain in the area.

First Coast Hunkers Down As Storm Passes

Public school systems in Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Flagler, Putnam, Nassau and Union counties have announced closings again on Friday, along with Camden, Charlton and Glynn County, Ga.

St. Johns County, which was to open schools on Friday, rescheduled its first day of classes for Monday.

All Catholic schools in the St. Augustine Diocese, most every private school and college in those counties remain closed.

Most non-essential government offices are also closed. Most communities postponed garbage collection, worried not only about the trucks on the streets, but encourage people not to put out cans that could become flying debris.

While there were no mandatory evacuations, the American Red Cross reports that about 350 people spent Wednesday night in shelters in Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns counties.

Follow these links for complete lists of all school closures, shelters and other specific storm-related information across Channel 4's viewing area:

Flooding will likely be the biggest threat of this slow-moving storm.

"I would caution against driving into standing water. You really don't know what's under the water, and that could really be a tragic situation if they do drive into standing water," said Sheriff John Rutherford.

Jacksonville police were posted on bridges armed with handheld wind meters to check wind speeds every 10 minutes and would close them if sustained winds reach 40 mph.

Erosion along the northeast Florida and southeast Georgia beaches was likely as seas have remained 1- to 3-feet above normal for at least three high-tide cycles.

Channel 4's Steve Douglas reported Thursday morning that heavy surf knocked several planks off the Jacksonville Beach Pier. While the planks are designed to break away to prevent more structural damage, the pier was closed to the public for safety reasons.

Douglas said two surfers make it past the barricades and jumped into the water at the end of the pier. They made it safely to shore, then left quickly as Jacksonville Beach police tried to arrest them.

Gaughan shares his insight and a peak his sources of forecasting data on his blog: Gaughan Bloggin'

President Declares Emergency

Late Thursday, President George W. Bush declared a federal state of emergency in Florida to help with Tropical Storm Fay.

On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist asked the White House for the declaration. It enables federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency to come in and help.

Fay has soaked Florida for four days, never gaining hurricane intensity but dumping dozens of inches of rain in some areas. Severe flooding on Florida's middle Atlantic Coast is being reported, and some people had to be taken by boat away from their homes.

Crist had asked for the declaration in 22 Florida counties.