Tropical Storm Colin soaks Florida, heads out to sea

Tropical Storm Colin, the first tropical system to hit Florida in three years, headed out to sea Tuesday after soaking portions of the state and the Southeast.

As of 5 p.m. EDT Tuesday, the center of the storm was 205 miles east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. It was racing to the northeast at 40 mph.

Earlier on Tuesday, the storm morphed into a "post-tropical cyclone," meaning the storm is no longer a tropical storm.

The storm delivered its heaviest rain Tuesday to coastal portions of South and North Carolina, AccuWeather said. As of mid-afternoon, the National Weather Service had dropped all tropical storm warnings, although flood watches remained in effect in east-central Florida.

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Colin will have little to no impact in the Northeast because it will remain far enough off the coast, AccuWeather said.

Colin made landfall with winds of 50 mph near Deckle Beach in Taylor County, Fla,, on Monday night, the hurricane center said. Some parts of Florida picked up as much as 10 inches of rain, and flood advisories remained in effect in the Tampa area Tuesday morning.

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Fla. Gov. Rick Scott declared an emergency Monday in 34 counties as the storm slogged through the state.

High winds and rain knocked out power to about 47,000 Floridians on Monday evening from the Tampa Bay area to Jacksonville, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reported. By Tuesday, power had been restored to all but 10,000 households and businesses, the agency said.

Some residents along Florida's Gulf Coast called the weak storm a test run for hurricane season.

“It’s a good fire drill,” said Brian Mugrage, a commercial fisherman and night cook at Riverside Cafe in St. Marks, Fla., south of Tallahassee. “Because I have a feeling that we’re going to have a season similar to 2005,” he added.

The catastrophic 2005 season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season in history, with a record total of 26 named storms, of which 15 were hurricanes, also a record high. Ferocious storms such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma all formed that year.

Contributing: Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat