High winds and heavy rains from Tropical Storm Debby lashed Florida on Monday. At least four deaths were reported in the state, and hundreds had to be rescued from flooded homes.
The storm is now threatening to flood some of America’s most historic Southern cities.
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Hundreds rescued from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, area, officials say
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.”
Man killed when storm topples large tree onto home in south Georgia, officials say
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.
Charleston, South Carolina, announces curfew, roads into historic city to be closed
Charleston, South Carolina, officials announced a curfew starting at 11 p.m. Monday for the peninsula that makes up much of downtown and the older parts of the 350-year-old city as some of the heaviest rain from Tropical Storm Debby is expected to fall overnight.
Police will barricade all eight roads leading into the peninsula and only let essential workers and emergency personnel in or out. High-water vehicles will also be staged to go into the area as needed, Charleston Mayor William Cogswell said at a Monday evening news conference.
“We need people to make their way out. This is not something you can stay at the bar until 10:45. We need you to take this seriously,” Cogswell said.
The mayor said forecasters told him 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) of rain could fall in Charleston overnight.
City officials will assess the situation early Tuesday and decide how and when to reopen roads and lift the curfew.
No evacuations planned for now in South Carolina, officials say
State officials don’t plan any evacuations in South Carolina for now as Tropical Storm Debby slowly spins toward the state.
Large-scale evacuations typically bring people inland from the coast, and forecasters say Debby’s biggest impacts could be as much as 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain in localized areas throughout the state, causing floodwaters to rise quickly in small areas. So any evacuations will up to local leaders.
“This storm may not have the high winds of a hurricane, but it has the potential to cause life-threatening floods across the state. And I would like to emphasize that Tropical Storm Debby is not just a coastal event, but it is a statewide event,” state Emergency Management Division Director Kim Stenson said at a Monday afternoon news conference.
Biden approves request from South Carolina's governor for emergency declaration
The White House said Monday that President Joe Biden has approved a request from South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster for an emergency declaration, following his earlier approval of a similar request from Florida.
In a statement, the White House said personnel from the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Coast Guard are deploying to the region and are prepared to support recovery efforts.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency Monday ahead of Debby's anticipated rainfall. Flooding and power outages are expected to start Tuesday and continue through the rest of the week, according to North Carolina Emergency Management officials.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis previously had declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties, with the National Guard activating 3,000 guard members. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also had made his own emergency declaration.
Curfew announced for Savannah and surrounding county as Debby approaches
With Debby's winds and rains expected to worsen overnight, officials for Savannah and surrounding Chatham County announced that an overnight curfew will take effect at 10 p.m. Monday and run to 6 a.m. Tuesday. The National Hurricane Center says the region can expect rains that could exceed 20 inches (51 centimeters).
By Monday afternoon, the storm’s outer bands were lashing Tybee Island, home to Georgia’s largest public beach, blowing sheets of rain sideways and rattling street signs near the beach pier. The island of 3,100 residents east of Savannah was bracing for a potential double-dose of flooding from an expected 2 to 4 feet of storm surge on top of rainfall.
“This is unprecedented rainfall,” said Michelle Owens, Tybee Island’s interim city manager. She added: “We don’t know what that looks like. So we have to be prepared for the worst. But we are definitely hoping for the best.”
Public works crews used earthmoving equipment to heap sand over beach access points to help fortify a storm surge buffer offered by surrounding dunes. Owens said the city also had given out about 2,000 sandbags to island residents.
Angela Thompson had several sandbags ready by the front door of her ground-level apartment near Tybee Creek on the island’s west side. She had just started moving in earlier this week and hoped to ride out the storm while unpacking.
“I have food and water and batteries and the things that I need, and I’m going to stay as long as I can,” Thompson said.
Florida will be on alert for flooding for the next week, Gov. Ron DeSantis says
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that just because Tropical Storm Debby is moving toward Georgia, that doesn’t mean the state won’t continue to see threats as waterways north of the border fill up and flow south.
“It is a very saturating, wet storm,” DeSantis said during a briefing at the state’s emergency operations center. “When they crest and the water that’s going to come down from Georgia, it’s just something that we’re going to be on alert for not just throughout today, but for the next week.”
Record-setting rain was forecast to cause flash flooding in coastal Georgia and South Carolina and into North Carolina, with up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rainfall in some areas, according to the National Hurricane Center. Debby made landfall early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane over Florida's gulf coast. The storm was moving slowly to the north-northeast and was expected to slow down as it turns to the east.
No deaths or injuries in Florida county where Debby made landfall, sheriff says
The sheriff of Florida's Taylor County, where Debby came ashore as a hurricane Monday, says there are no deaths or injuries in the sparsely populated area located in the state's northern Big Bend region.
But Sheriff Wayne Padgett advised anyone who had evacuated from low-lying and coastal areas to wait before returning because the tide will be coming in and it's unknown how deep the water might get. Several roads are closed due to flooding as well as trees and power lines downed by the storm, Padgett said.
Debby made landfall as a category 1 hurricane near Steinhatchee, a tiny community of less than 1,000 residents.
Mayor warns tourists, residents on South Carolina's Hilton Head Island: Don't let your guard down
No evacuations were planned Monday on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island, one of the state's most popular beach destinations. But Mayor Alan Perry warned tourists and residents not to let their guard down with forecasts predicting up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) of rain this week from Debby.
“We don’t know how much rain is going to fall. But we have to prepare for the worst,” Perry said. “If that happens, we will see an event we have never seen on Hilton Head before.”
In a video posted on Facebook, Perry asked island residents and visitors to check on each other before the heavy rain starts — and maybe help the city out by checking storm drains. “If you are able to go out and pull some debris from those drains so they can drain, that’s is really key to preventing additional flooding,” he said.
Hilton Head Island has about 38,000 residents. Officials estimate up to 250,000 tourists can be on the island on the busiest summer days.
In saturated Savannah, residents prepare for potentially historic rains
As Debby threatened to dump potentially historic flooding rains across southeast Georgia, more than 20 people in Savannah filled sandbags at a park in the city’s suburban southside. Rain soaked their clothes and mud stuck to their shoes. Officials are especially concerned about Debby because the area already is saturated after Savannah recorded 8.5 inches of rain in July, 3 inches greater than normal, according to the National Weather Service.
Jim Froncak tossed a dozen full bags into the back of his pickup truck while his son and a friend did the shoveling. Even though his home sits about 2 feet off the ground, Froncak said he won’t be surprised if a nearby ditch overflows with floodwaters capable of reaching his doors.
“A really heavy thunderstorm will fill it up,” Froncak said. “So whatever’s coming is really going to fill it up and flow over.”
City crews spent days ahead of Debby’s arrival clearing storm drains throughout Savannah. Some low-lying neighborhoods outside the historic downtown area had flooded streets from thunderstorms less than two weeks ago.
Packages containing cocaine wash up on beach in Florida Keys during storm, Border Patrol says
In the Florida Keys, Debby blew packages containing 70 pounds (32 kilograms) of cocaine onto a beach, the U.S. Border Patrol’s Miami sector reported Monday.
A “good Samaritan” found the drugs and contacted authorities, the agency said. The cocaine has a street value of more than $1 million, the agency said on social media. It’s didn’t say exactly where the cocaine was found.
Vice President Harris postpones trip to Georgia
Vice President Kamala Harris is postponing a scheduled trip to Georgia amid the ongoing effects of Tropical Storm Debby.
Harris’ campaign said her stop planned in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday, was being put off due to the storm.
Harris is choosing her running mate and will introduce the choice during a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The pair will then travel together starting on Wednesday to a series of key battleground states: Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. But the Georgia leg of the original journey has been canceled for now.
Debby made landfall in Florida on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane and was expected to bring potentially record-setting rainfall to Georgia and South Carolina as it heads east.
Debby forces flight cancellations at Florida airports
More than 1,600 flights were canceled nationwide by midday Monday, many of them to and from Florida airports, according to FlightAware.com. One out of every five flights scheduled to leave Orlando International Airport was canceled Monday, with just as many incoming flights canceled there.
Nearly 30 percent of flights scheduled to depart Tampa International Airport on Monday were canceled. High numbers of canceled flights were also reported at airports in Jacksonville and Fort Myers.
Biden briefed on Debby's progress
President Joe Biden was briefed on Debby’s progress while at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House said Monday.
The White House said Biden on Saturday approved Florida’s request for an emergency declaration and that federal rescue personnel, meals and water have been deployed to the storm-stricken region. The administration is closely monitoring the storm and response effort with state and local officials, it said.
A 13-year-old boy dies when tree falls on mobile home in Florida, and officials report other deaths in storm
A 13-year-old boy died Monday morning after a tree fell on a mobile home located southwest of Gainesville, Florida, according to the Levy County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials reported other deaths as Debby moved inland.
A truck driver died early Monday on Interstate 75 in the Tampa area after he lost control of his tractor trailer, which flipped over a concrete wall and dangled over water before the cab dropped into the water below.
East of Steinhatchee, a tiny community in northern Florida near where the storm made landfall, a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy were killed late Sunday when the car she was driving on a wet road struck a median and then overturned off the road. A 14-year-old boy who was a passenger was hospitalized with serious injuries, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Debby weakens to a tropical storm but flooding threat continues
Debby has weakened into a tropical storm with top winds hovering around 45 mph (75 kph) Monday evening. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was moving slowly to the northeast. It was expected to cross southeastern Georgia and to slow to a crawl as it turns to the east. Debby made landfall as a hurricane in the Big Bend region of Florida, one of the state’s least populated areas.
Forecasters are still warning that heavy rain could spawn catastrophic flooding in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia. Substantial rainfall was expected as well in central and northeast North Carolina through Wednesday morning.
Big worry is storm surge from Debby
Forecasters said storm surge was expected to be the biggest threat for Florida, with 6 to 10 feet (1.8 to 3 meters) of inundation above ground level predicted in part of the zone near the Big Bend.
“That part of the coast is a very vulnerable spot,” John Cangialosi, a hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center, said Monday. Some areas, including Sarasota and Manatee counties, have already received 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) of rain.
In Georgia, the National Weather Service is predicting major flooding on some rivers: the Canoochee River near Claxton, the Ohoopee River near Reidsville and the Ogeechee River near Eden. All those rivers were below flood stage Monday but could see their water levels more than double by later in the week.
Hundreds of thousands without power
More than 300,000 customers were without power in Florida and Georgia on Monday afternoon, down from a peak of more than 350,000, according to PowerOutage.us and Georgia Electric Membership Corp.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said some 17,000 linemen are working to restore electricity. He warned residents in affected areas to sit tight until conditions are safe.
“When the water rises, when you have streets that can be flooded, that’s hazardous,” DeSantis said. “Don’t try to drive through this. We don’t want to see traffic fatalities adding up. Don’t tempt fate, don’t try to go through these flooded streets.”
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This version corrects the attribution for power outage figures to PowerOutage.us, not PowerOutage.com.