JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Tropical Storm Fay meandered north along the Florida Atlantic coast Wednesday but did not immediately head out over the ocean, lessening the chances it will gain strength and become a hurricane.

Northern Florida and much of Georgia are expecting a long drenching, which some farmers hope will boost crops hurt by a lingering drought.

In Jacksonville early Wednesday, business was brisk at grocery stores and gas stations as people prepared for Fay’s arrival. Velton Jones, manager at a discount department store, said he was selling basics such as water, flashlights, emergency supplies and cigarettes.

“The storm’s coming, people want to have their cigarettes,” Jones said. “I expect it’s going to be chaotic in here today.”

Customer Rodney Van Buren bought diapers, ice and other things.

“We’re not scared, just being cautious,” he said. “We don’t want to wait until the last minute.”

There were no new reports of damage Wednesday and only minor street flooding in the Melbourne area, where Fay was predicted to dump between 5 and 10 inches of rain.

Cocoa resident Meghan Ellison, 22, said her 5-year-old daughter Brianna was disappointed she couldn’t start her first day of kindergarten because schools were closed.

“I woke up and was surprised the storm wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” she said.

The storm hit the Florida Keys on Monday, veered over the Gulf and then traversed east across the state Tuesday on a path that would have taken it over the Atlantic before it curved toward the Florida-Georgia border.

Forecasters had originally expected the storm to get a dose of energy when it moved over the ocean and possibly become a hurricane. But the storm’s center remained just inland early Wednesday and forecasters said it may not go over the water until the afternoon. The chances of Fay becoming a hurricane were shrinking, the National Hurricane Center said.

Still, a hurricane watch remained in effect for parts of north Florida and Georgia. A tropical storm warning was extended, covering an area from north of Jupiter Inlet to Altamaha Sound in Georgia. A warning means such conditions are expected within 24 hours, while a watch means such conditions are possible within 36 hours.

The storm was near Cape Canaveral at 8 a.m. EDT Wednesday, about 15 miles south of Cape Canaveral. Its maximum sustained winds had dropped to 45 mph from near 50 mph and it was moving north at about 5 mph.

And while forecasters warned rainfall from the storm could just as easily be catastrophic as benign, farmers in drought-plagued areas were cautiously optimistic.

“It’s very seldom we’re hoping for a hurricane, but we are,” said Randy Branch, a farmer in southeast Georgia where lingering drought has left about a third of his cotton and peanut crops bare this summer.