Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Fay, which may be one of the wettest cyclones to hit Florida, continued to drench northern counties a day after President George W. Bush declared an emergency in the state.

Fay had maximum sustained winds of about 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour, and was located near Gainesville in central-northern Florida, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in an advisory posted on its Web site shortly before 5 a.m. local time. The system was moving west at 6 mph.

Fay has crisscrossed Florida over the past three days, dumping as much as 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain over parts of the state, flooding roads and homes and causing millions of dollars of damage to crops and infrastructure.

``This is one of the wettest tropical storms we've seen,'' Paul Walker, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc., said today in a telephone interview from State College, Pennsylvania. ``When they move in and they stall, they can bring in large amounts of moisture. Flooding is going to continue to be a problem. It'll take a while for that water to drain away.''

The storm may cause hundreds of millions of dollars of damage, Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground Inc. forecaster, said yesterday. Bush's emergency declaration allows federal aid to be provided to the state. Few areas of Florida will be untouched by the storm by the time it leaves the state, according to forecasters.

Tomato Crop

``Nearly all of our 67 counties will have been impacted by the time Fay leaves our state and these funds will help our local and state partners recoup the costs of keeping Floridians safe,'' Governor Charlie Crist said in a statement on the Florida Division of Emergency Management Web site.

In St. Lucie County, on the east coast, Fay destroyed the entire tomato crop and flooded 600 homes in the city of Fort Pierce. The damage totals $50 million, including $20 million in agriculture, the county said on its Web site. To the north, residents of Brevard County were advised to boil their water, and Volusia County reversed a decision to open schools today due to ``significant flooding.''

Schools also are closed today in the counties of Putnam, Clay, St. Johns, Brevard, St. Lucie, Union, Alachua, Levy, Dixie, Lafayette, Taylor, Columbia, Madison and Leon, according to local Web sites.

Space Center

The Kennedy Space Center will open for normal operations today after a partial closure yesterday and a complete shutdown the previous day, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

``Some facilities did sustain minor damage,'' NASA said on the space center's Web site. ``Most reports are of water intrusion that will require mopping up.''

As of 6 a.m. local time, more than 33,000 homes and businesses across the state were without electricity, according to the Web site of FPL Group Inc.'s Florida Power and Light. Most of the customers affected are in Nassau, Brevard, Flagler, Volusia and St. Johns counties.

Fay was 65 miles east-northeast of Cedar Key, according to the hurricane center's latest advisory. The storm's center is predicted to cross northern Florida today, moving near or over the coast of the Panhandle late today and tomorrow. The system will maintain tropical-storm strength as it crosses Alabama on Aug. 24, before weakening to a tropical depression, with sustained winds below 39 mph, over Mississippi early Aug. 25.

``Fay will impact the Big Bend and Panhandle with flooding downpours from Friday through the weekend,'' the state emergency management division said.

Floods have already brought crocodiles and snakes into residential areas such as the east-central Florida city of Melbourne, AccuWeather's Walker said. Flood watches are in place through late today across part of northern and central Florida and southeastern Georgia, the National Weather Service said on its Web site.

To contact the reporters on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net; Ryan Flinn in San Francisco at rflinn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 22, 2008 06:59 EDT