Hurricane Debbie hit Florida

The center of Hurricane Debbie is expected to reach Florida’s Big Bend coast early Monday morning. Forecasters warn that the hurricane will bring powerful downpours, potentially catastrophic flooding and a life-threatening storm surge as it moves through the northern part of the state before stopping over coastal Georgia and South Carolina.

“Debbie” approached the Florida coast with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. The storm is moving north at 12 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said early Monday morning.

“Debbie” is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season after Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris formed in June.

Forecasters warned that heavy rainfall from “Debbie” could cause catastrophic flooding in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

The storm is expected to make landfall around noon Monday in the Big Bend area of Florida, north of Tampa, the hurricane tracking center said. A tornado warning was also in effect for parts of Florida and Georgia through 6 a.m. Monday.

The sparsely populated Big Bend region of the Florida Panhandle was also hit last year by Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane.

In 2023, the devastating effects of Hurricane Idalia contributed to the U.S. setting an unfortunate record for natural disasters.

“Debbie” is expected to move eastward over northern Florida before stopping over coastal Georgia and South Carolina, bringing potentially record-breaking downpours to the region starting Tuesday.

Officials also warned of life-threatening storm surge along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

“Really surprising rainfall totals are forecast, and surprising in a bad way,” Michael Brennan, director of the Hurricane Tracking Center, told a briefing. – “This will be record rainfall associated with a tropical cyclone for both Georgia and South Carolina if we get up to 30 inches.

The effects of flooding could last through Friday and are expected to be particularly severe in low-lying areas near the coast, including Savannah, Georgia; Hilton Head, South Carolina; and Charleston, South Carolina.

At a briefing Sunday afternoon, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that the storm could cause “really significant flooding that will occur in north central Florida”.

The storm will follow a similar path as Hurricane Idalia, but “we’ll see a lot more flooding,” DeSantis said.