The latest on Debby
- Debby made landfall today on Florida's Big Bend at 7 a.m. ET as a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said. It was downgraded at 11 a.m. to a tropical storm.
- At least four deaths have been confirmed.
- Rain is the major threat as the storm pushes slowly northeast, officials said, with up to 20 inches possible on the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia.
- More than 16 inches of rain fell in parts of Manatee County, Florida, from Saturday to today. Officials in Manatee and Sarasota counties reported hundreds of rescues.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 counties. In a statement, his office said 3,000 National Guard members have been mobilized.
- Follow here for live updates and the latest coverage on Tropical Storm Debby.
More than 158,000 customers without power in Florida and Georgia
More than 158,000 electricity customers are without power in Florida and Georgia late tonight after the arrival of Debby.
Around 135,000 customers were without power in Florida and about 23,300 customers were without power in Georgia at around 11 p.m., according to the tracking website poweroutage.us.
Debby, which arrived as a hurricane, is now a tropical storm. Rain and water hazards are the main threat from the storm now as it moves toward the Georgia coast and the coasts of the Carolinas, officials said.
Tennessee sending rescue teams to help in S.C. floods
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said today it is sending two swift water rescue teams to South Carolina, where Tropical Storm Debby is expected to deliver drenching and dangerous rain.
The rain and other water hazards from the slow-moving storm are considered the top threat for parts of Georgia and the Carolinas.
Sarasota police warn of more rain as resident recalls ‘heartbreaking’ scenes
Police in Sarasota, Florida, where more than a foot of rain fell, said they have rescued hundreds of people and urged residents to be prepared for more rain tomorrow.
Sarasota police said around 500 people had been safely taken from flooded homes to higher, safer ground.
“It’s awful,” Sandra Rees, who lives on Courtland Street, where homes flooded, told NBC affiliate WFLA of Tampa. “It is heartbreaking. People carrying their plastic bags with their photos and things in it, it is so sad.”
Almost 60 water rescues made in Manatee County, Florida
There were 58 water rescues that resulted in 207 people brought to higher ground in Manatee County, Florida, after Hurricane Debby drenched the region, officials said.
The number were current as of 8 p.m. ET, the county government said.
“We are facing an unprecedented weather event with Hurricane Debby,” Jodie Fiske, Manatee County’s public safety director, said in a statement.
“The safety of our residents is our top priority, and we are doing everything in our power to respond effectively to this crisis. I commend the heroic efforts of our emergency responders and the resilience of our community during this challenging time,” Fiske said.
Manatee County includes the coastal cities of Bradenton and South Bradenton. Bradenton got around 11 inches of rain from Saturday to shortly before 6 p.m. today, the National Weather Service said.
Lakewood Ranch, a community more inland, recorded over 16 inches of rain, the agency said in a list of preliminary rainfall amounts.
White House approves South Carolina emergency declaration
President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration request by the governor of South Carolina, which increases the availability of aid.
Biden previously approved a similar declaration from Florida because of the storm. The White House said in a statement that it is monitoring Debby as it makes its way across Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
“Personnel from the DOD, HHS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Coast Guard have deployed and are prepared to support,” it said. “The President continues to urge residents to remain vigilant and heed the warnings of State and local officials.”
Boater reported missing in Gulfport, Florida
A 48-year-old boater is missing in Florida as Hurricane Debby continues to churn over parts of the state, Gulfport police said this afternoon.
Police identified Brian J. Clough, who was also with his dog, as the missing boater. They said he had anchored his sailboat about 50 feet from Gulfport’s Veterans Park during the storm.
“Another man from the local boating community saw Mr. Clough’s vessel had partially sunk during the late morning hours of 08/05 and noticed Clough’s dog still aboard the vessel,” the police department said in a statement. “The man also searched some of the vessel for Clough but he was not found.”
Police said they had checked with the local boating community but that Clough had not yet been found. The police department added that when weather conditions improve, additional resources would support the search.
Video shows waves of water consume road as officials say Tampa Bay's Skyway Bridge is closed
The Florida Highway Patrol posted video of a road being overtaken by water as it announced the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which spans Tampa Bay, was closed today.
Charleston issues curfew for peninsula with foot of rain possible by 10 a.m.
The city of Charleston, South Carolina, issued a curfew for the peninsula that begins at 11 p.m.
“We are anticipating between midnight tonight and 10 a.m. tomorrow 10 to 12 inches of rainfall,” William S. Cogswell Jr said. The curfew will be reassessed at 10 a.m., he said.
Some other cities and communities have imposed curfews because of the storm and its effects, including Savannah, Georgia.
"We urge everybody to stay inside, stay indoors and do not travel," Cogswell said. "If you need to get off the peninsula, we urge you to do that now."
‘We have a lot of water coming,’ South Carolina governor warns
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster warned that past events like the tropical storm have taken weeks, or more, to recover from and urged residents to take it seriously.
“It’s not at hurricane wind, but those categories — 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 — those measure only the wind, they do not reflect the water at all,” McMaster said. “But we’ve got a lot of water coming.”
“And we had a lot of water in 2015, as you remember, we had a lot of water in 2017,” McMaster said at a 5 p.m. news conference. “And the results of overcoming all that took weeks, sometimes, or sometimes even longer.”
South Carolina’s entire coast was under storm surge warnings or watches.
A warning extended from the mouth of the St. Mary’s River in Georgia to the South Santee River in South Carolina, including Charleston. There could be a storm surge of 2 to 4 feet, the National Hurricane Center said.
Parts of South Carolina could also get 10 to 20 inches of rain, with local amounts up to 30 inches, through Saturday.
Debby is moving slowly — and that’s a problem
Debby is crawling across the Southeast moving northeast at about 6 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The relatively slow speed — as of 5 p.m. ET — is trouble: The longer a hurricane lingers over an area, the more potential it has to produce extreme rainfall over a confined geography.
Debby’s behavior fits a recent trend. Scientists think tropical storms or hurricanes have become more likely to “stall” out as they strike the coast.
Research published in the journal Science in 2019 found that the speed of an average coastal North American cyclone fell about 17% from 1944 to 2017, from 11.6 mph at the start of the period to 9.6 mph by the end. Storms were also more likely to change directions quickly. Those factors make it more likely that a storm will stall and focus rainfall on one region.
Hurricane Dorian, in 2019, is an extreme example. The powerful hurricane struck Grand Bahama and essentially stopped in its tracks for about 40 hours. Parts of Grand Bahama got 60 inches of rain over several days, according to NASA.
The National Hurricane Center forecasts suggest Debby could dump 30 inches of rain in some parts of the Southeast, which would cause dangerous flooding.