JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Tropical Storm Alberto pelted Florida's Gulf Coast with rain Tuesday morning, but early reports indicated its winds, storm surge and other effects may not be as serious as initially feared.

Apart from scattered power outages, some streets flooded and water levels approached several houses and businesses near Crystal River, south of Cedar Key. Residents there gathered in calf-deep water on waterfront streets and parking lots and dropped sandbags in preparation for the afternoon high tide.

At 12:30 p.m., the eye of Alberto came ashore near Adams Beach, in Florida's Big Bend southeast of Tallahassee. Alberto was continuing to move northeast at about 9 mph., expected to move into Georgia by this evening.

The storm's rain bands had been passing over Florida since late Monday. About 21,000 homes and businesses were without power statewide.

At midmorning, the National Hurricane Center downgraded a hurricane warning to a tropical storm warning as the first named storm of the 2006 Atlantic season did not become a hurricane, which forecasters said had been a possibility.

Alberto's top sustained winds dropped to 50 mph from 65 mph earlier in the day. The minimum wind speed for a hurricane is 74 mph.

The tropical storm warning now extends from Bayport northward and westward to the Ochlockonee River, and all warnings south of Bayport were discontinued. A tropical storm warning also extended from Flagler Beach, Fla., north to South Santee River, S.C.

A flood watch was issued for southeastern South Carolina, where more than 5 inches of rain was possible, and forecasters said central Florida and southeastern Georgia could get 4 to 10 inches of rain.

At 11 a.m. EDT, Alberto was centered just offshore of Keaton Beach and about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee. Alberto was moving northeast at about 9 mph.

"The big concern now is going to be shifting to the rainfall and the tornado threat as it moves along the southeastern (U.S.) coast line," National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield said. He later added: "It shouldn't be life threatening by any means, as long as people are careful and especially surfers."

A wind gust of 60 mph was reported in Tampa before dawn, while a gust of about 50 mph was recorded to the north in Cedar Key, meteorologists said. But Cedar Key City Commissioner Pat O'Neal said he was cautiously optimistic that the island village would miss the worst of Alberto.

"We dodged a bullet," said O'Neal. "I'm concerned because we still have a high tide this afternoon. We have the potential for a little storm surge after that."

COUNTY-BY-COUNTY INFO ALACHUA COUNTY Emergency Ops: 352-264-6500 BAKER COUNTY Emergency Ops: 904-259-0232 BRADFORD COUNTY Emergency Ops: 904-966-6336 CLAY COUNTY Emergency Ops: 800-246-3320 COLUMBIA COUNTY Emergency Ops: 386-758-1125 DUVAL COUNTY Emergency Ops: 904-630-CITY FLAGLER COUNTY Emergency Ops: 386-437-8202 NASSAU COUNTY Emergency Ops: 904-958-4980 PUTNAM COUNTY Emergency Ops: 386-329-0379 ST. JOHNS COUNTY Emergency Ops: 904-824-5550 Emergency Into Hotline: 904-209-1200 SUWANNEE COUNTY Emergency Ops: 386-364-3405 UNION COUNTY Emergency Ops: 386-496-4307

More than 20,000 people along Florida's Gulf Coast were ordered to evacuate, but officials worried some residents in low-lying areas prone to flooding still would not take the storm seriously.

"A lot of people aren't going to leave," said Jackie Gorman, Cedar Key's community development director. "We're hoping this is going to be a small one, but who knows."

Nearly half the state has been under tornado watches since Monday evening, with the greater Jacksonville area remaining under a watch until 2 p.m. Tuesday.

"Conditions will improve before the wind and chance for thunderstorms sets in," Channel 4 meteorologist Richard Nunn said Tuesday on the morning show. "Once this rain is out of forecast in the Jacksonville metro area, don't let that fool you. That opens up the flow for the wind that's going to come in around the circulation of Alberto later today."

Officials at the state emergency operations center were clearly relieved that the storm hadn't strengthened. State meteorologist Ben Nelson said dry air had pushed into the storm and prevented it from getting stronger, as some had feared it might.

But state Emergency Management director Craig Fugate warned that the state wasn't yet in the clear.

"Let's get it on through before we do our happy feet dance," Fugate said.

A large chunk of the storm was already over Florida and its outer rain bands stretched into southeastern Georgia, where forecasters warned of a threat of tornadoes. A flood watch was issued for noon Tuesday for 18 southeastern South Carolina counties and rain totals exceeding five inches were possible in the area.

The top wind gust hit 60 mph early Tuesday in Tampa, and about 4 to 6 inches of much-needed rain had fallen in areas that had been dry, said Charles Paxton, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

Forecasters said it could bring 4 to 10 inches of rain to central Florida and southeastern Georgia. Rain started falling Monday and at least two tornadoes had formed, though there were no reports of any injuries or damage.

In Florida, homeowners gassed up their vehicles and stocked up on chain saws, plywood and other emergency supplies. Alberto also prevented the crew of space shuttle Discovery from flying Monday to the Kennedy Space Center from Houston for several days of dress rehearsals for their expected launch in July.

Gov. Jeb Bush signed a declaration of emergency allowing him to call up the National Guard and put laws against price gouging in place.

The tropical depression that produced Alberto formed Saturday, nine days after the June 1 start of the hurricane season. The storm's winds accelerated with startling speed Monday from 50 mph to 70 mph in just three hours. The minimum for a named storm is 39 mph.

Scientists say the 2006 season could produce as many as 16 named storms, six of them major hurricanes. Last year's hurricane season was the most destructive on record and the busiest in 154 years of storm tracking, with a record 28 named storms and a record 15 hurricanes.