MIAMI, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Unpredictable Tropical Storm Fay pounded parts of northeast Florida Thursday as it crawled inland again, with strong rain and winds expected into Friday.

A tropical storm warning along the Florida east coast south of Sebastian Inlet has been discontinued, but a tropical storm warning remained in effect from Sebastian Inlet northward to the Savannah River at the Georgia-South Carolina border, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

A tropical storm watch was still in effect along the Florida Gulf coast from the Suwannee River to Indian Pass.

At 8 p.m. EDT, the center of Tropical Storm Fay was just west of Flagler Beach, Fla.

The storm was drifting toward the west at about 2 mph and was forecast to move to the west or west-northwest, perhaps picking up some speed. At that rate, Fay would move slowly across the Florida panhandle Thursday night and early Friday and reach the panhandle coast by late Friday or early Saturday.

Top winds were clocked at 60 mph with higher gusts, but some weakening was expected Thursday night and Friday.

The once-stalled Fay was expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 5-10 inches across the central to northern portion of the Florida Peninsula, southern Georgia and southeastern Alabama, the report said.

Power lines were down in storm areas and many schools were closed until next week. There were wide areas of flooding and more expected and high winds forced closings of some Intracoastal Waterway bridges.

Steve Letro, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service in Jacksonville told the Jacksonville Times-Union it was going to be "a prolonged rain event."

In South Florida, where water reached to the roofs of cars, Brevard, Glades and St. Lucie counties all reported serious flood-related problems: water trapping residents in their homes, overwhelmed sewage systems seeping into yards and power outages, The Miami Herald reported.

The worst of the rain had moved out of Port St. Lucie, as Fay lumbered just a few miles east of Daytona Beach on Thursday morning, about to make a rare third landfall in Florida.

It was expected to move west across North Florida on Thursday and Friday, drenching everything in is path.

Among the expected flood points is the often troubled Black Creek in Clay County. Where the creek's waters are expected to rise above the 16-foot flood stage Friday and hit 20 feet by Saturday. Homes along the creek begin flooding at 19 feet.

Texas delays execution of Wood

HUNTSVILLE, Texas, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Texas Thursday delayed executing a convicted accomplice in a 1996 homicide so doctors can evaluate his competence to be executed, officials said.

Jefferey Wood was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection in Huntsville, Texas, at 6 p.m., but U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered the delay to allow the psychiatric examination, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Wood was being returned to his death row cell, the newspaper said. His attorney said he would report to the court on the psychiatric evaluation in 2009.

If Wood is found incompetent, his execution could be postponed indefinitely, the newspaper said.

Wood was arrested with David Reneau the day after convenience story employee Kris Lee Keeran was shot and killed in an armed robbery.

Defense attorneys argued that Wood is not competent to be executed and death penalty opponents have argued that it was Reneau who killed Keeran while Wood drove the getaway car. Texas law holds all parties to a crime equally culpable, the Chronicle said.

Reneau was executed in 2002.

NATO denies airstrike hit French troops

BRUSSELS, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- NATO says it disputes a report in a French newspaper that says French soldiers fighting in Afghanistan earlier this week were hit by NATO airstrikes.

CNN reported Thursday that 10 soldiers and 21 were wounded in combat near Kabul.

NATO said in a statement Thursday that "the planes supplying close air support could not engage because French troops were very close to Taliban insurgents and if they had engaged there may have been considerable collateral damage if the bombs had been used."

NATO called allegations published in Le Monde newspaper Wednesday that one of its airstrikes hit the French soldiers "unfounded."

"The NATO airstrikes that were supposed to allow the soldiers under assault to get out of the trap, according to the wounded, missed their target and hit French soldiers, along with other shots fired from Afghan soldiers positioned below," the newspaper reported.

French Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin said Wednesday that the deaths occurred in the first few minutes of the

Taliban attack, which seems to rule out the airstrike as being the cause of the deaths, but not necessarily the injuries.

Somali violence kills 11 civilians

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Violence in the Somali capital of Mogadishu on Thursday left at least 11 civilians dead, witnesses said.

CNN reported that the shooting occurred around a neighborhood mosque, where many of the dead were gathering for prayers at the Abu Hureyra mosque.

Sheikh Abdullahi Omar, whose leg was wounded by shrapnel, said the scene was grotesque.

"Body parts of the worshipers are scattered all over," he was quoted by CNN as saying.

Islamic insurgents and Somali and Ethiopian soldiers also clashed in Folarensa junction, an intersection near the Somali presidential palace.

Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia in December 2006 to help install the transitional government in Mogadishu. Somalia was a near anarchy for about a decade.