Hanna brings drought relief to South

Visitors to St. George Island, Florida, find rough surf as Tropical Storm Hanna approached on Friday.

PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN) -- Residents in drought-stricken states in the South monitored Tropical Storm Hanna on Friday, hoping the weak system would chug ashore with much needed rain.

Hanna already has dumped heavy rain in parts of the Florida Panhandle, a region that has an annual rainfall deficit of up to 13 inches. According to the National Weather Service, 4 to 5 inches of has fallen along the Florida coast in Wakulla and Franklin counties. Bands of rain also moved into north Georgia.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, about half the nation has been affected by drought this year and many residents in the storm's projected path welcomed the rain.

TROPICAL STORM HANNA As of 11 p.m. EDT on September 13 Latitude: 28.2 North Longitude: 89.1 West IN-DEPTH Hurricane Season 2002

At 11 p.m. EDT, Hanna was centered about 70 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River. A tropical storm warning was in effect from Grande Isle, Louisiana, to Apalachicola, Florida. A watch was posted from east of Apalachicola to the Suwannee River. Coastal areas of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana also were under flood watches.

Reconnaissance aircraft indicated that Hanna had started drifting slowly eastward. On this track, the center of the storm should be near the Gulf Coast by midday Saturday. However, tropical storm force winds were expected to reach land earlier.

The storm has top sustained winds of 50 mph with higher gusts. Hanna is expected to strengthen as it gets close to shore, but forecasters said it was unlikely to reach hurricane strength (74 mph) before landfall.

Bettye McShan Baumhauer watches the heavy surf from her home on the coast in Orange Beach, Alabama, on Friday.

Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 145 miles mainly to the east of the storm's center. The storm is dropping 6 to 10 inches of rain in some areas. Tornadoes also are possible along the storm's path.

Warned areas may get a storm surge of 2 to 4 feet above normal tide levels. Strong, battering waves also are predicted.

After it hits land, forecasters said they expect Hanna to head north through southern Mississippi, northern Georgia, North Carolina and out to the Atlantic Ocean by Monday.

Hanna took shape Thursday as the season's first hurricane, Gustav, sped away into the Labrador Sea off Canada. As a tropical storm earlier this week, Gustav lashed North Carolina's Outer Banks before racing northeastward offshore of the eastern seaboard and reaching hurricane strength near Canada, far north of its tropical birthplace.