Deadly Tropical Storm Debby takes aim at historic southern cities
Tropical Storm Debby is expected to bring heavy rain and flooding to historic southern US cities on Tuesday.
At least five people have died after it struck Florida as a category one hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm.
As of early Tuesday morning, the storm’s center was located 50 miles southwest of Savannah, Georgia, and 130 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has issued warnings of “life-threatening” flooding as the slow-moving storm inundates parts of the US southeast.
Rainfall between 10 to 20 inches (25cm-50cm) could cause catastrophic flooding in southeast Georgia, eastern South Carolina, and southeast North Carolina, according to the NHC.
Among the deceased is a 13-year-old boy who died when a tree fell on a mobile home in Levy County, near Gainesville.
In Hillsborough County, near Tampa, an 18-wheel truck veered into a canal during the storm, resulting in the driver’s death.
In Dixie County, west of Gainesville, a woman and a 12-year-old were killed in a car crash on Sunday night.
In southern Georgia, a 19-year-old was reported dead after a large tree fell on a porch in Moultrie, according to local media.
The storm’s slow movement could lead to “catastrophic flooding,” said Jamie Rhome, the deputy director of the hurricane center.
Debby’s waves and strong winds also washed ashore 25 packages of cocaine, worth over $1 million, in the Florida Keys, according to the US Border Patrol.
On Monday night, around 150,000 homes and businesses in Florida were without power, according to PowerOutage.com, along with another 36,000 residents in Georgia and South Carolina.
The storm is forecasted to skim the coast, drenching southeast Georgia and the Carolinas on Tuesday and Wednesday, before moving inland near the South Carolina coast on Thursday.
Before the storm’s landfall, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties.
Spyridon Aibejeris told USA Today that repairs on his Keaton Beach home had just wrapped up two weeks ago from Hurricane Idalia, a category three storm that made landfall last summer.
“Man, I’ve done this so many times,” Mr Aibejeris said.
Forecasters predicted this hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November, would be a busy one.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said there could be up to 25 named storms in 2024.
Between eight and 13 of those storms could develop into hurricanes.
Debby was the fourth named storm of the year.
It is thought that climate change may be making slow-moving hurricanes like this more likely.
As the world heats unevenly, this causes changes in the atmospheric circulations that steer storms across the planet.
