Tropical Storm Henri

This satellite image of Tropical Depression 12, which became Tropical Storm Henri on the morning of Sept. 5, 2003, was taken at 9:15 a.m. ET, Sept. 4, 2003. The tropical depression strengthened in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and was crossed into Florida. At 5 a.m. Sept. 5, it was centered about 115 miles west of St. Petersburg, moving east and raising storm warnings on Florida's Gulf coast.

A sailboat rests at anchor Sept. 4, 2003, in Lake Pontchatrain in New Orleans, which was caught between a slow-moving cold front and tropical depression in the Gulf of Mexico. The depression, which became Tropical Storm Henri the next day, did not prevent a beautiful sunset.

As Tropical Storm Henri bore down on Florida's west coast, officials were worried about what its heavy rains would do to an already water-logged area. Daily downpours were flooding Florida and the saturated soil had little margin to handle more. Here, Sammy Dattulo uses a raft to paddle around the Sherwood Forest manufactured home community and check on neighbors, Monday, Aug. 25, 2003, near Kissimmee, Fla.

A sport utility vehicle makes it way up flooded Highway A1A in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., Saturday morning, Sept. 6, 2003, during a thunder storm associated with Tropical Storm Henri as it moved through the area.

Andrea Sell, left, and Ashley Hart walk on a flooded street in Venice, Fla., Friday, Sept. 5, 2003, after Hart's car flooded while taking a friend home.

Beachgoers sit, walk and hunt for shells in Pinellas, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 6, 2003, as Tropical Storm Henri exited Florida's east coast after doing little damage to the gulf beaches. Most of Florida was spared heavy rain forecasters believed Tropical Storm Henri would bring Saturday, as the system weakened into a tropical depression, moved quickly across the peninsula and over the Atlantic Ocean.

Bryon Palombo, second from right, 10, and his brother Devon, right, 12, survey the damage to a homemade sand dam on Treehaven Lake in Hudson, Fla., Sept. 6, 2003, after it was burst by floodwaters. Locals gathered together to build a sand dam last week after water level rose to threatening levels. The heavy rains from Tropical Storm Henri added to a summerlong flooding problem in parts of Florida's Gulf coast.