Fay’s remnants soak drought-parched South

? The remnants of Tropical Storm Fay spread over a wide swath of the South on Monday, bringing heavy rain and wind from Georgia to Louisiana that many hoped would help land parched for months by drought conditions.

Floridians, meanwhile, continued to mop up floodwaters created by the storm that stuck around for a week and made a historic four landfalls, dumping more than 30 inches of rain along the central Atlantic coast. Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, dressed in blue jeans and a golf shirt, helped an elderly woman out of a boat that had taken her from her inundated home.

“It just started raining and it didn’t want to stop,” said the woman, Hazel Hayes.

The National Weather Service said the vestiges of Fay would deluge northern Georgia on Monday and today, with 3 to 5 inches of rain expected in the Atlanta area and up to 8 inches in northeast Georgia. In Alabama, flash flood and tornado warnings were posted.

In Georgia, farmers began assessing damage to crops. The storm’s high wind and torrential rain seemed to take the heaviest toll on Georgia’s $128 million pecan crop, especially in southern counties along the Florida state line, according to preliminary assessments.