Florida Spared Major Damage From Storm

Allison, the earliest hurricane on record to hit Florida, buffeted the Gulf Coast with 75 m.p.h. winds Monday, swamping streets and spinning off small tornadoes but causing no major damage.

“The forecast was for a lot more than we got,” said Kenny Thompson, who rode the storm out aboard his shrimp boat in Ochlockonee Bay. “We were real, real lucky.”

More than 65 coastal homes, three hotels and at least one restaurant were flooded as the morning storm caused the ocean to surge eight feet above normal along a 150-mile stretch of Florida’s Big Bend, where the Panhandle meets the Peninsula.

The weak storm--it just barely reached the hurricane threshold of 74 m.p.h. winds--toppled power lines, leaving 48,000 people without electricity. No injuries were reported.

Allison weakened into a tropical storm by late morning as it moved ashore in sparsely populated Taylor County, about 45 miles southeast of Tallahassee.

“It’s been real crazy up here,” said Oscar Garner, the county’s emergency coordinator. “The water came up, and then it started going down, and then it started coming back up again. The storm has been doing a real number with us.”

Allison was downgraded to a tropical depression late Monday as it pushed northeast. Top winds dropped to 20 m.p.h. Its center was near Alma, Ga., 88 miles southwest of Savannah.

The depression might brush South Carolina before heading into the Atlantic and oblivion today, said Pat Pritchett at the National Hurricane Center.