Ross Roberton a 14-year resident of the Lamplighter Village in Melbourne, Florida, is carried to a transport vehicle by Sgt Justin Davenport (left) and SPC George Smith, both of the National Guard out of Cocoa, yesterday, as they help evacuate residents after Tropical Storm Fay dropped record rains on Brevard County. - AP

MELBOURNE, Florida (AP):

For a fourth weary day, Tropical Storm Fay continued its soggy march through Florida yesterday, forcing dozens more residents to flee flood waters, and even driving alligators and snakes out of their habitats and into streets.

Flooding from Fay, which has made landfall in the state three times this week, was especially acute along the Atlantic coast from Port St Lucie to Cape Canaveral, where space shuttles usually launch, with water reaching depths of 5 feet (1.52 metres) in some neighbourhoods.

The erratic and stubborn storm has dumped more than two feet (0.61 metres) of rain along parts of Florida's low-lying central Atlantic coast. It is just the fourth storm in history to make landfall as a tropical storm three times, the last in 1960. Before it eases across the Panhandle by the weekend, it could bring buckets more rain.

No deaths have been reported in Florida because of Fay, which was responsible for at least 20 deaths when it passed through the Caribbean.

If the water itself wasn't enough, people in flooded parts of the area known as the Space Coast were warned to keep watch for alligators, snakes and other wildlife forced from their habitats and swimming in search of dry land. At least two alligators were captured in residential neighbourhoods and several others spotted.

Florida National Guardsman Steve Johnson, 45, said he was wading through hip-deep water Wednesday night with a flashlight when an alligator drifted by.

"I said 'What the heck is that?' and there was an alligator floating by," Johnson said yesterday. "I took my flashlight and was like, 'You've got to be kidding me, a big old alligator swimming around here'."