Tropical Storm Debby has moved into the U.S. Southeast with what are likely to be long torrential downpours and flooding after raking Florida with heavy rain and high winds.
The storm killed at least five people on Monday and is causing flash flooding in historic Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as elsewhere on the Southeast’s Atlantic Coast. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson told residents to expect a rough day Tuesday. Debby made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane.
Although Debby was classified as a Category 1, which is based on wind speeds, meteorologists say it’s the storm’s rainfall capacity that makes it extremely dangerous.
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Debby has weakened over land because tropical cyclones derive their energy from warm water, but part of the circulation was still interacting Tuesday with water over the Atlantic, said Richard Pasch, a senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.
The storm’s center is expected to move out over the water off the Georgia and South Carolina coast, then move back inland, so it could restrengthen, but it’s not clear how much, he said.
Tropical storm warnings were posted from northeastern Florida up into North Carolina, and very heavy rain is expected, leading to catastrophic flooding across parts of southeastern Georgia, the eastern half of South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina through Friday, he said.
“Tropical cyclones always produce heavy rain, but normally as they’re moving, you know, it doesn’t accumulate that much in one place,” he said. “But when they move very slowly, that’s the worst situation.”
Debby’s center was over southeastern Georgia early Tuesday with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph (75 kph), and it was moving northeast near 7 mph (11 kph). The center is expected to move off Georgia’s coast later Tuesday. Some strengthening is forecast on Wednesday and Thursday as Debby drifts offshore, before it moves inland over South Carolina on Thursday.
The emergency plan in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, includes sandbags for residents, opening parking garages so residents can park their cars above floodwaters, and an online mapping system that shows which roads are closed by flooding.
About 500 people were rescued from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, a beach city popular with tourists, the Sarasota Police Department said Monday in a social media post.
“Essentially we’ve had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have,” Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun said in a social media update.
Just north of Sarasota, officials in Manatee County said in a news release that 186 people were rescued from flood waters.
“We are facing an unprecedented weather event with Hurricane Debby,” said Jodie Fiske, Manatee County’s public safety director. “The safety of our residents is our top priority, and we are doing everything in our power to respond effectively to this crisis.”
Heavy winds and rain associated with Debby toppled a large tree onto a porch at a home in south Georgia, killing a 19-year-old man, authorities said Monday.
Colquitt County Coroner C. Verlyn Brock said the man died at the home in the city of Moultrie, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Valdosta, Georgia, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
The storm has damaged roofs and downed power lines in Moultrie, Police Chief Chad Castleberry told WALB-TV.
The National Hurricane Center said Debby had top winds near 45 mph (75 kph) Monday evening as it moved slowly to the northeast. It was expected to cross southeastern Georgia and to slow to a crawl as it turns eastward.