Little flooding, damage as Tropical Storm Bonnie passes South Florida

The worst of Tropical Storm Bonnie passed over South Florida by early Friday afternoon, leaving little flooding or damage but providing a good trial run for the busy hurricane season that meteorologists have forecast for Florida.
``It helps put us on alert,'' said Troy Samuels, vice mayor of Miramar. ``It's a very nice wake-up call.''
Palmetto Bay spokesman Bill Kress agreed: `We're looking at Bonnie to nudge us to have our storm preparation plans in place.''
At 2 p.m. the National Weather Service discontinued tropical storm warnings for the East Coast of Florida, from Deerfield Beach to the Keys.
``We're still going to be dealing with some showers and thunderstorms today, probably diminishing as we start to move into the evening hours,'' said Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Miami.
Bonnie is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 1 to 3 inches over South Florida, with possible isolated areas totaling 5 inches of rain. No significant flooding was reported.
``There was some short-lived pooling on some city streets but by the time Public Works got out there it had dissipated,'' said Kress from Palmetto Bay.
By mid-afternoon, Bonnie was becoming less organized with winds of 40 mph and was moving rapidly over inland South Florida in a north-northwest direction at 18 mph.
Bonnie is expected to move over the eastern Gulf of Mexico tonight and Saturday and approach the northern Gulf late Saturday.
The tropical storm warning remained in effect for Lake Okeechobee and Florida's West Coast from Cape Sable northward to Englewood. A tropical storm warning also was issued for Destin to Morgan City, La.
Friday morning, strong winds and heavy rain pelted parts of South Florida.
At Virginia Key, sustained winds were measured at 41 mph with gusts as high as 58 mph, the Weather Service said.
Bonnie's center came ashore in Cutler Bay about 11 a.m., according to the National Hurricane Center.
At Miami International Airport, 1.5 inches of rain fell on Friday and about a quarter of an inch was measured at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.
But Bonnie barely made a splash in Southwest Broward, where neighborhoods and roads remained free of floods, downed trees or any of the hazards typically associated with a named storm.
``All we've had is rain and no wind to speak of,'' said Jack McCluskey, vice mayor of Pembroke Pines. ``It was a non-event,'' he said.
Ditto for Miramar.
``We've only had one power line down,'' said the city's emergency management director, Joe Cabrera. ``We have no flooding, no outages, no significant events.''
A handful of crashes were reported in Broward County on Interstates 595 and 95, officials said. ``Nothing out of the ordinary for a rainstorm,'' said Sgt. Mark Wysocky of the Florida Highway Patrol.
Hallandale Beach has a history of flooding, but was spared this time. Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Yvonne Feijoo said Bonnie served as good practice in distributing sandbags.
Solveig Castro, 37, was among those who received the 1,200 sandbags handed out. She didn't want to take any chances with her mobile home flooding before, with water reaching her calves.
``I'm just trying to take precautions so I'm not in a swimming pool later on,'' she said.
By Saturday, weather should be back to normal for a South Florida summer, with high humidity and the possibility of rain.
Forecasts for Saturday and Sunday call for a mix of sun and clouds, with a 60 percent chance of rain in the afternoon Saturday and a 40 percent chance on Sunday.
That's good for businesses. On Friday morning, as rain pushed through Miami Beach, Ocean Drive was like a ghost town with only a few hearty souls on the sidewalks.
``We're open,'' beckoned Gabriela Arevalo, manager of the Atlantic Bar & Grill. ``This storm is bad for business. Only one customer.''
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