Heavy rain leaves parts of Daytona track under water

Persistent rains falling on Daytona Beach, Fla., has parts of Daytona International Speedway under water, however, track officials say it will not affect NASCAR's race weekend in July.

Circulating photos show water reaching halfway up the SAFER barriers in some areas of the speedway and the Turn 1 tunnel is filled more than halfway with water.

As for long-term damage to the track's surface, speedway representative Andrew Booth said for now it is not an issue.

"Like much of the surrounding area, we've received a significant amount of rainfall in recent days," he said. "There has been no significant damage at the speedway from the rain but we have had some ponding of water.

"There are a lot of houses and streets that are flooded in our community from our rainfall and we believe that is more of pressing news story than water in our tunnel."

According to local reports, the Volusia County Council declared a state of emergency in the area in light of the historic rainfall amounts recorded (22 to 27 inches) in parts of Volusia and Flagler counties since Sunday when heavy rain began falling.

More rain is expected to fall Friday.