"Fay weakens to a depression, but heavy rains and flooding could continue for several days," the Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in a statement late Saturday, with the storm slowing to a crawl after an extraordinarily long run beginning August 15, when it formed in the Caribbean.

The depression swirled over the Florida Panhandle and crept westward into Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday, with New Orleans and other coastal cities and towns still suffering from Hurricane Katrina's ferocity three years ago now bracing for as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain.

On Saturday Fay spawned tornadoes that ripped through seven counties in south Florida, destroying 10 homes and damaging 50 others, local emergency officials said.

Some 50,000 homes have been flooded, and the storm knocked out power for 100,000 people.

Fay killed 11 people during its seven-day zig-zag over Florida, and President George W. Bush declared an emergency in the waterlogged, wind-battered state on Thursday, opening the way for federal disaster assistance.

Since it powered up from the Caribbean just short of hurricane strength last weekend, Fay first blasted through the tourist-heavy Florida Keys, then plowed up the west coast before making landfall Tuesday and crossing very slowly to the northeast.

It drifted out over the Atlantic before boomeranging back westward over northern Florida and towards other Gulf coast states.

The storm is reportedly blamed for at least one death in Georgia as well.

While the storm began breaking apart on Sunday as dry air sucked it inland, it was still packing heavy rain that has put officials in New Orleans on guard against a repeat of the devastating deadly flooding delivered by Hurricane Katrina.

"A flash flood watch is in effect through Monday evening for much of southeastern Louisiana," Danielle Manning of the National Weather Service told the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

Army Corps of Engineers staff in New Orleans were put on alert to monitor water levels in canals that are connected to Lake Pontchartrain -- the lake whose levees famously burst during Katrina -- and to implement emergency drainage operations if needed.

"We have activated our teams as a precautionary measure for the safety of the public," New Orleans district commander Alvin Lee said in the Times-Picayune.

"We are ready to close the gates and run the pumps should the need arise," he added.

Governor Bob Riley declared a state of emergency in Alabama, where officials issued flood warnings, opened shelters and readied trucks capable of conducting floodwater rescues.

The storm was working itself westward at about 10 miles (16 kilometers) per hour, "but Fay could become nearly stationary or stall on Monday over eastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi," according to the National Weather Service.

Earlier in the Caribbean, Fay left a trail of destruction and at least 40 deaths -- most of them in Haiti, where a truck carrying around 60 passengers plunged into a swollen river during the storm.

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