Hurricane Debby made landfall in northern Florida on Monday as a Category 1 storm, bringing what forecasters say could be “historic heavy rainfall” across southwest Georgia and South Carolina’s coastal plain.
Some 280,000 Florida homes were without power as of 10 a.m. E.T. Monday morning, per PowerOutage.us. Florida’s Taylor County, where Debby made landfall in the town of Steinhatchee, reported that the entire county was out of power. Approximately 17,000 linemen have been sent to help with power restoration, per the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM).
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]President Joe Biden approved Florida’s emergency declaration on Sunday, sending federal assistance to respond to the emergency conditions caused by Debby. The Florida Division of Emergency Management also deployed the state National Guard to help with response operations, and has 10 rotary aircrafts, and more than 400 tactical vehicles to support emergency efforts.
The storm is slow-moving but impactful. The National Hurricane Center warned that Hurricane Debby could cause “life-threatening storm surge” near the gulf Coast of Florida, with some 6 to 10 feet of inundation expected in the region. Forecasters say Debby has the potential to bring “catastrophic flooding,” per the National Weather Service (NWS) of South Carolina, with its heaviest impact expected through Wednesday.
Officials are asking people to stay home. “When the water rises, when you have streets that can be flooded, that’s hazardous,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press conference on Monday. “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.”
Hurricane Debby is expected to impact Southern Georgia later on Monday and Tuesday, eventually reaching North Carolina by 2 a.m. on Saturday, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By then, experts believe Debby will be a tropical storm.
