Despite never achieving hurricane status, the storm has already wreaked plenty of damage -- flooding hundreds of homes with up to five feet of water, trapping residents and rendering the state a candidate for a federal emergency disaster area, as requested by Gov. Charlie Crist to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"I want to stress that this storm is becoming a serious catastrophic flooding event," Crist said.
According to the National Weather Service, Fay may bring 30 inches of rain in some parts of Florida, and said nearly 25 inches had already fallen near Melbourne, just south of Cape Canaveral.