Tropical Storm Debby has killed at least six, including three children, after it smashed into Florida on Monday – with sustained high winds of 45mph and torrential rain and flash floods continuing to wreak havoc across the Southeast region.
A 13-year-old boy was killed when a tree fell on his mobile home in Levy Country, Florida on Monday. A 12-year-old girl is also said to have been killed by a falling tree in the same county.
A woman and 12-year-old boy died in a car crash on wet roads Sunday night in Dixie County – near where the storm first made landfall. In another horrific road traffic accident, a truck driver died after his cab flipped into a river below the highway.
In southern Georgia, a 19-year-old man died when a large tree fell onto a porch at a home in Moultrie, local media reported – the first death caused by Debby in the state.
Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on the Big Bend coast of Florida early Monday, where it damaged homes and businesses, sent floodwaters rising, and caused sweeping power outages.
It was downgraded to a tropical storm at midday yesterday, and is moving slowly up the coast, but experts say the worst is yet to come as the storm system is expected to stall over the region, resulting in ‘historic’ downpours and ‘catastrophic flooding’.
The mayor of Savannah, Georgia, has warned residents to ‘hunker down’, adding that people should expect Tuesday ‘to be a rough day’ as weather maps show the storm sweeping up the coast from Florida, into Georgia and towards the Carolinas.
Due to Debby’s slow movement on land, some areas could be drenched with 10 to 30 inches of rainfall, this National Hurricane Centre radar map shows
A 13-year-old boy died on Monday after a tree fell on a mobile home southwest of Gainesville, Florida, according to the Levy County Sheriff’s Office
One of the storm’s victims in Florida was the driver of a semi-truck whose cab fell into a river. Fire and rescue services pulled it out and the man was declared dead
A drone view shows houses and streets flooded as Hurricane Debby affects the gulf coast in Suwannee, Florida, U.S., August 5, 2024
Debby was downgraded to a tropical storm at midday yesterday, and is moving slowly up the coast
The NOAA’s predictions for the movement of storm-force winds up the coast this week
Northern Florida, the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina and parts of North Carolina are facing downpours, high winds and catastrophic flooding this week as the storm system moves up and east.
The National Hurricane Centre has said that its slow movement could result in ‘potentially historic heavy rainfall across southeast Georgia and eastern South Carolina through Friday’ which will ‘likely result in catastrophic flooding’.
President Joe Biden has approved a request from South Carolina’s governor for an emergency declaration, following his earlier approval of a similar request from Florida.
He has also now approved an emergency declaration for Georgia following a request by Governor Brian Kemp, who hoped it would speed up the flow of federal aid to the state.
North Carolina is also under a state of emergency after Governor Roy Cooper declared it in an executive order signed on Monday.
There are fears that potentially deadly conditions could persist as the storm continues on its path.
The truck driver who died on Interstate 75 in the Tampa area yesterday, lost control of his tractor-trailer before it flipped over a concrete wall.
It dangled over the edge before the cab dropped into the water below. Sheriff’s office divers located the driver in the cab 40 feet (12 metres) below the surface, according to the Florida Highway Patrol, and he was declared dead.
The 13-year-old boy who lost his life died at around 8am on Monday after a tree fell on a mobile home southwest of Gainesville, according to the Levy County Sheriff’s Office.
Pictures show his home crushed under the huge tree. No other injuries were reported.
Forecasters say the system could pummel the Southeast with widespread areas of up to 20 inches (51cm) of rain and some totaling up to 30 inches (76cm).
That would be a record-setting rainfall, shattering the record from a tropical system in 2018’s Hurricane Florence.
More than 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain was recorded in South Carolina after that storm hit the Carolinas.
Buildings sit along the coast line as the rain and storm surge from Hurricane Debby inundate a neighborhood in Cedar Key, Florida
A large sinkhole opened up on Grange Fall Loop in Wimauma after heavy rainfall
Tow trucks lift a transfer truck that overturned on Independence Parkway in Tampa on Monday
Vehicles drive through a flooded street caused by rain from Tropical Storm Debby on August 5, 2024 in Savannah, Georgia
Ethan Widner, left, and Nick Davis watch traffic drive through floodwaters at Webber Street and Brink Avenue, near the bridge over Philippi Creek in Sarasota, Florida
A resident walks through a flooded street caused by the rain and storm surge from Debby
Although Debby was classified as a Category 1, ‘It really is worthy of a Category 3 or 4 rating, if you want to talk about rainfall impacts,’ said Jeff Masters, founder of Weather Underground, now with Yale Climate Connections. ‘That’s going to cause a lot of damage.’
After the storm hit, Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 counties across the state.
The storm has caused heavy flooding in communities across Florida and Georgia.
One Fort Myers resident said they were ‘shocked’ and worried as the flooding continued to rise.
They said: ‘Everyone was sat inside their homes watching the water rise so we went out to check on a few of our neighbours.
‘I was so shocked by the flooding – we were worried for all the residents. Luckily our property is safe.’
The storm has already left destruction and ‘deadly hazards’ in its wake, including downed power lines, flooding which has swept away cars and wrecked homes.
According to reports, 150,000 homes and businesses were without power on Monday night, in Florida.
A view of Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Savannah, GA, as Tropical Storm Debby moves in
Beachgoers enjoy the sea as Hurricane Debby moves north of central Florida towards Georgia
Angela Ortiz, left, hands her son Barrett Ortiz, right a stack of sandbags while preparing for the storm at a county park in Georgia
Hershey Stepherson, left, and Bryan Burc, right, use a five gallon bucket to fill a sandbag while preparing for the storm
Flash flood warnings were issued in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Both Savannah and Charleston announced curfews Monday night into Tuesday.
In South Carolina, Charleston County Interim Emergency Director Ben Webster called Debby a ‘historic and potentially unprecedented event’ three times in a 90-second briefing Monday.
In addition to the curfew, the city of Charleston’s emergency plan 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 due to flooding.
A tornado touched down in the state on Monday night, damaging trees, and homes and taking down power lines, the Colleton County Sheriff’s Office said on social media. No injuries were immediately reported, officials said.
The National Weather Service continued issuing tornado warnings well into Monday night for parts of the state including in the island town of Hilton Head.
Shortly after Debby made landfall as a hurricane, about 500 people were rescued on Monday from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, a beach city popular with tourists, the Sarasota Police Department said in a social media post.
Bret Kasol, 40, wades out to his boat, which is close to being beached just by the sea wall of Gulfport, Florida
A car passes under traffic signals swaying in the wind due to tropical storm Debby in Waverly, Georgia
Joey Larsen checks on his neighborhood as high winds, rain and storm surge from Hurricane Debby inundated the area on Monday
Storm surge breaks over a small sea wall near boat docks, in Horseshoe Beach, Florida
Just north of Sarasota, officials in Manatee County said in a news release that 186 people were rescued from flood waters.
‘Essentially we’ve had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have,’ Sarasota County fire chief David Rathbun said on social media.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that the state could continue to see threats as waterways north of the border fill up and flow south.
The governor also activated his state’s national guard, with more than 3,000 service members mobilised to help with the storm response.
He warned that the state could continue to be wary of threats as waterways north of the border fill up and flow south.
‘It is a very saturating, wet storm,’ he said. ‘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.’
Nearly 160,000 customers remained without power in Florida and Georgia on Monday night, down from a peak of more than 350,000, according to operators.