Waning Andrea to dump heavy rain across East Coast

(CNN) -- Jim Shepperd was just crossing the Howard Frankland Bridge from Tampa to St. Petersburg when the winds whipped furiously and the first named storm of the hurricane season began its one-two punch on the Tampa Bay area.

By the time he and his chow-shepherd mix, Aussie, made it home to Gulfport, Tropical Storm Andrea was thrashing his neighborhood. Just down the street, a tornado touched down, felling a massive 200-year-old cedar tree. "There were a lot of trees down," the hairstylist said Friday morning. "We're lucky. We're OK."

By 11 a.m. ET, Andrea's heavy rain had moved on, targeting a broad swath of the East Coast. Forecasters say it's expected to drench 13 states from Georgia to Maine.

Meteorologists want everyone in Andrea's path to know this: The storm's biggest danger will probably be flash floods.

The National Weather Service offers tips on what to do in a flooding situation. In short, road beds may be washed out under flood waters, so never drive through flooded roadways.

At 11 a.m. Friday, the National Hurricane Center said Andrea was packing 45-mph winds and was about 50 miles southwest of Fayetteville, North Carolina, and 90 miles west of Wilmington, North Carolina.

Andrea is expected to produce 2 to 4 inches of rain in central and eastern North Carolina. Up to 2 inches are expected over portions of South Carolina.

Farther north on Friday, a flood watch area includes Washington, which the National Weather Service predicts could get 6 inches of rain Friday, and New York, where forecasters say 1 to 2 inches of rain an hour could fall at times into Saturday.

Even Maine's coast, including Portland, could see as much as 3 inches of rain by the time the weekend is done.

As of 8 a.m., Andrea's projected path is similar to that of Tropical Storm Debby nearly a year ago. Debby dumped up to 2 feet of rain onto the low-lying areas, causing extensive flooding in some coastal towns.