Storm Watch No. 1.4, 2006:TS Alberto Comes Ashore

Rain, wind and flooding ... your typical tropical storm results. Sorry to disappoint the cable news networks, but Alberto was too disorganized to be much of a threat.

The first tropical storm of the hurricane season was less than advertised Tuesday, bringing rain, gusty winds and some thigh-high street flooding to Florida's Gulf Coast without blowing up into the hurricane forecasters feared.

There were no immediate reports of any serious injuries or deaths.

But emergency planners said the preparations were not in vain: Alberto allowed them to hold a not-so-dry run of their disaster plans. And the rains snuffed out some of the wildfires that have bedeviled parched central Florida over the past few months. ...

The storm's center came ashore around noon near Adams Beach, about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee. Its winds were 40 mph, down from 65 mph in the morning and well below the 74 mph hurricane threshold that forecasters thought it might cross.

Prepare yourselves now, Gulf Coasters, every tropical storm or hurricane this year will be like the great shark attack media frenzies of 2002.