Storm Soaks Florida; 2 More Near Caribbean

Tourists abandoned beaches and people watched the rain helplessly Thursday as Tropical Storm Jerry drenched much of Florida.

Meanwhile, hurricanes Humberto, with 100-m.p.h. winds, and Iris, with 80-m.p.h. winds, were pushing their way across the Atlantic toward the Caribbean.

On the Atlantic coast, the major impact appeared to be on vacationers who trusted the Sunshine State’s motto.

“You expect to at least get out on the beach. Instead, you go spend a lot more money in the shops,” said Colin Bradie of London.

Stacey Brown, a waitress on Captiva Island at a restaurant facing the Gulf of Mexico, saw few customers.

“It’s miserable, it’s awful,” she said. “We don’t have any business.”

Jerry lost steam as it weakened to a tropical depression after making it nearly across the peninsula, but forecasters predicted that it could build into a storm again over the Gulf and strike northern Florida.

Jerry dumped 10 1/4 inches of rain near Stuart, more than 8 1/2 inches on Sanibel Island, next to Captiva, and nearly eight inches in West Palm Beach.

It tore out a bridge in the Atlantic coast community of Palm City and caused isolated road flooding.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect on the Gulf coast from Anclote Key northwest of Tampa to Pensacola.

Humberto was about 1,100 miles east of the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean. A gradual west-northwest turn was expected. Iris, slowly moving west ahead of Humberto, was centered about 330 miles east of the Lesser Antilles.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the two storms could intertwine. That phenomenon, called the Fujiwara effect, is common over the Pacific but a rarity in the Atlantic.