Tropical Storm Fay hit Florida with severe winds and drenching rains early Tuesday, but it did not strengthen into the potentially devastating hurricane residents had been dreading.
   
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Fay, which claimed dozens of lives around the Caribbean over the weekend, should begin to weaken now that it was over land.
   
But it could roar back to life once it heads out over open water, as some computer models predict it could.
   
The biggest concern now, officials said, was that the weather system could spawn tornadoes and severe flooding across the Sunshine State.
   
At 5:00 am (0900 GMT) Fay was located about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Fort Myers according to the NHC, with top winds of 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour.
   
The storm, moving at a pace of about nine miles (15 kilometers) per hour was expected to decrease in speed and turn to the north sometime on Wednesday, the NHC said.
   
In the Caribbean over the weekend, Fay left a trail of death and destruction, particularly in Haiti, where a truck carrying around 60 passengers plunged into a swollen river.
   
In Florida meanwhile, authorities ordered the evacuation of tourists and closed schools in the Keys and counties to the north. In Key West, four shelters were set up in case residents were also forced to abandon their homes and flights were canceled.
   
And some 500 national guard members have been deployed across the state, with another 8,500 available if needed, officials said.
   
But not everybody was hunkering down for the storm.
   
Hundreds of surfers thronged Miami beaches to ride the huge swells the storm was serving up.
   
"We have amazing waves today, something not seen very often on this beaches. It's a perfect day," Australian Miami resident Martin Bain told AFP before charging off into the water with a bunch of friends.
   
Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson told Fox News television late Monday that while Fay was far from the strongest possible storm, it could still cause serious injury or loss of life. He urged residents to take the threat seriously.
   
"Have you ever been hit by a coconut? Well, those things are worse than bullets. They do not travel at high velocities very often, but, when they do, they make a big hole," McPherson said.
   
"Not only that. We have branches that can take (off) somebody's arm."
   
McPherson said he was dismayed to see many residents out in the unclement weather.
   
"We have our police officers out there," McPherson said.
   
"My greatest concern is that our public safety officers will end up getting injured because somebody is not using their brains."
   
Although far from Fay's eye, Miami was expected to get hit by tornados and flooding as the storm brushes by the state. There were already reports of power outages in homes affecting about 2,000 people.
   
Crude oil prices fell Monday as Fay's path appeared likely to bypass oil and gas production facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
   
Royal Dutch Shell said it had evacuated 425 staff from the Gulf of Mexico but added that no more workers would leave as Fay appeared likely to miss its energy installations.
   
Fay is the sixth named storm of this year's Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30.