After pounding Cuba and the Caribbean, tropical storm Fay slammed the Florida Keys and put residents across south Florida on alert. While not reaching hurricane strength, Fay is bringing strong winds and torrential rain across much of the state.

Fay rolled into southwest Florida with strong winds and sheets of rain.

The storm slammed into the coast earlier than expected.

Craig Fugate of the Florida Division of Emergency Management says "the thing to do is to stay inside during a storm, stay safe when the storm passes through, don't be in a rush to get out."

Some Floridians ignored that advice.

The place to be Monday night in Collier county: the Naples Beach pier.

Naples resident Annette Thaworsky walks the length of the pier, at least 100 yards, without an umbrella.

Annette Thaworsky says "if it intensifies, it's going to be no more than 75-100 so I'm not worried."

And neither are many residents across Collier County who decided not to board up.

Emergency Management Director Dan Summers says "I think one of the issues that is really been a challenge for the public, they've heard this as a tropical storm."

The soggy, sloppy storm that is Fay drowned out the party on Duval Street.

25,000 tourists were evacuated while residents and business owners rode out the storm.

Key West resident Jennifer Lovelette says "there's only so much preparation you can do and to some degree when you decide to stay you also have to accept the risk."

What Fay did to the keys was little compared to what happened in the Caribbean.

Flash floods from the storm killed at least a dozen people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.