As it gets closer to Florida, Tropical Storm Debby has intensified into a Category 1 hurricane.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds are estimated by meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center in Miami to be 75 mph (120 kph) on Sunday night. The storm was traveling north at 12 mph (19 kph) and was situated roughly 100 miles west southwest of Tamapa.
Following the formation of Tropical Storms Alberto, Beryl, and Chris in June, Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.
Forecasters issue a warning that Debby’s high rainfall could cause devastating floods in Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida.
As Debby churned through the Gulf of Mexico into Florida on Sunday, it was strengthening quickly and posing a threat of disastrous floods later in the week to the southeast Atlantic coast.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami predicted that the storm will probably make landfall on Monday near the Florida Panhandle or the Big Bend region of the state.
After that, Debby was predicted to travel eastward over northern Florida before coming to a stop over Georgia and South Carolina’s coasts. From Tuesday onward, the area could see potentially record-breaking amounts of rain, up to 30 inches. Along Florida’s Gulf Coast, officials have also issued a warning of potentially fatal storm surges. On Monday, 6 to 10 feet of water are predicted to rise between the Ochlockonee and Suwannee rivers.
At a press conference on Sunday, Michael Brennan, the director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, stated, “There’s some really amazing rainfall totals being forecast—and amazing in a bad way.” “If we reached the 30-inch level, that would be record-breaking rainfall linked to a tropical cyclone for both the states of Georgia and South Carolina.”
Flooding is predicted to affect low-lying coastal communities, such as Savannah, Georgia; Hilton Head, South Carolina; and Charleston, South Carolina, most severely through Friday.
If the system pauses over the region, officials in Savannah predicted that four days will bring a month’s worth of rain to the area.
“This storm has the potential to be very big. At a press conference, Savannah Mayor Van R. Johnson stated, “The word historic cannot be underscored here.”
Schools in the area will close on Tuesday and Wednesday and be dismissed early on Monday.
“We have an unprecedented amount of precipitation, which could lead to unprecedented flooding in our community,” stated Dennis T. Jones, Chatham County’s director of emergency management.
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