Tropical depression Barry brings rain to Florida

By Robert Green

ST. PETERSBURG, Florida (Reuters) - The remains of Tropical Storm Barry brought high winds and heavy rains to Florida on Saturday, but the downpour was welcomed in a parched state that has been battling stubborn wildfires.

Much of Florida's west coast was feeling the brunt of Barry by Saturday morning. There were no immediate reports of storm-related injuries or damage.

Barry formed as a tropical storm on Friday and began pelting the Tampa Bay area with rain that afternoon. It was downgraded to a tropical depression with sustained winds near 35 mph (55 kph) late on Saturday morning.

At 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), the system's poorly defined center had moved across the state and was close to Jacksonville, in northeast Florida, and moving north-northeast at about 23 mph (37 kph), the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

That track was expected to take it, as a heavy rainstorm, up the U.S. East Coast over the next two days. It was not expected to strengthen into a hurricane and the hurricane center said it planned no more public advisories on Barry.

All tropical storm warnings and watches were discontinued as Barry weakened. Tropical storms have maximum sustained winds ranging from 39 to 73 mph (63-118 kph).

Barry was expected to bring several inches (centimeters) of rain to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

That was welcome news in Georgia and in Florida, which reported hundreds of wildfires in May and rainfall of less than half of the normal average. Florida officials said there were 160 fires in progress as of Saturday, down from 180 on Friday. Friday's rain was the first in Tampa in 25 days.