HORSESHOE BEACH, Florida, USA. —
Hurricane Debby made landfall on the Florida coast on Monday, bringing the potential for rain, catastrophic flooding and dangerous storm surge as it slowly moves across the northern part of the state. Forecasters said the storm could cause severe thunderstorms as it moves east toward Georgia and South Carolina.
The storm made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in Steinhatchee, a small town of fewer than 1,000 people in the Big Bend area on the Gulf Coast. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was moving north-northeast at 10 mph (17 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm made landfall in one of Florida’s least populated areas, though experts warned it could bring catastrophic flooding to Florida, South Carolina and Georgia. Nearly 240,000 customers were without power in Florida on Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.com.
A tornado warning was in effect for parts of Florida and Georgia on Monday.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee said Monday morning that the primary concern in the Big Bend was severe flooding, with storm surge forecast for all of Appalachian Bay.
A pickup truck drives through a flooded street as Hurricane Debby approaches Florida, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, in Gulfport, Fla.
(Dylan Townsend / Associated Press)
In Marion County, which is inland south of Gainesville, police said on Facebook Monday that crews were responding to reports of downed power lines and fallen trees across roads and homes.
Images posted on social media by the Cedar Key Fire Department showed waters rising in the streets of the town, located south of where the storm made landfall. The water is “rising at a fairly high rate,” the post said.
Debby is forecast to move eastward over northern Florida and then station itself over coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina, where it will bring potentially record-setting rainfall totaling up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) beginning Tuesday.
Authorities also warned of a dangerous storm surge on Florida’s Gulf Coast, with flooding of 6 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 meters) between the Ochlockonee and Suwannee rivers.
“Some really surprising rainfall totals are forecast, and surprising in a bad way,” NHC Director Michael Brennan said at a news conference. “That would be record tropical cyclone-related rainfall for Georgia and South Carolina if we get to the 30-inch level.”
Flooding, which could last through Friday, is expected to be especially severe in low-lying areas near the coast, including Savannah, Georgia; Hilton Head, South Carolina; and Charleston, South Carolina. North Carolina officials are monitoring the storm’s progress.
Officials in Savannah said the area could see a month’s worth of rain in four days if the system stalls over the region.
“This is a significant storm. The word historic cannot be understated here,” Savannah Mayor Van R. Johnson said during a news conference.
Debby’s outer cloud bands had been brushing Florida’s west coast since Sunday, flooding streets and causing power outages. Sarasota County officials said most roads on Siesta Key, a barrier island off the coast of Sarasota, were under water.
At a press conference Sunday afternoon, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that the storm could bring “very, very significant flooding that will occur across north-central Florida.”
He said it would follow a similar path to Hurricane Idalia, which hit the state last year, but would be “a lot wetter. We’re going to see a lot more flooding.”
Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, following Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris, all of which formed in June.
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Chandler reported from Montgomery, Alabama. Jake Offenhartz contributed from New York.
