After roaring into Florida Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, Tropical Storm Debby is crawling up the East Coast, bringing with it catastrophic flooding and dumping feet of rain on some parts of the country.
Debby has closed ports, damaged homes and businesses, and claimed at least five lives during what is expected to be an above-average hurricane season. The storm is expected to cause historic rainfall across southeast Georgia and eastern South Carolina through Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
The storm is expected to move off the Georgia coast on Tuesday.
“Debby will be recognized as the next billion-dollar weather disaster in the United States,” said AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter. “We do not forecast an extreme risk to lives and property from flooding very often. Flooding disasters are possible in multiple communities this week. People need to be prepared for potentially catastrophic flooding. When all is said and done, in fact, there could be tens of billions of dollars in total damage and economic impact from Debby.”
Debby could dump up to 18 inches of rain on parts of Florida and North Carolina through Saturday, causing flash flooding, forecasters predict.
Other parts of North Carolina, as well as Georgia and South Carolina, could see up to 30 inches of rain.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is coordinating over 50 truckloads of commodities to ship to Florida, including more than 300,000 meals and 900,000 liters of water, a spokesperson told FreightWaves. The agency is also prepared to send supplies to Georgia and South Carolina if requested.
Ports in Florida, Georgia close
Wilmington Harbor in North Carolina will be closed to incoming vessels beginning Wednesday.
The Jacksonville Port Authority remained closed to incoming vessels Tuesday after closing its waterways on Monday. The landside cargo operations for the port — the largest container port in Florida — were open.
The Port of Fernandina, a small port on Florida’s Atlantic Coast that handles steel, aluminum, machinery, paper and forest products, and consumer goods, was closed Tuesday.
Georgia ports remained closed Tuesday after closing Monday afternoon.
Port Tampa Bay, which handles 33 million tons of cargo annually and is Florida’s largest port overall, reopened its waterways Monday night after closing them Saturday in anticipation of the storm.
5 dead, including trucker
A 64-year-old New Albany, Mississippi, truck driver died when he lost control of his 18-wheeler and plunged into the Tampa Bypass Canal early Monday, said Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Steve Gaskins. The driver’s identity was not immediately released.
A 19-year-old man died in Moultrie, Georgia, when a tree crashed through his home.
A 13-year-old boy died in Fanning Springs, Florida, a city outside of Gainesville, when a tree fell on his mobile home, crushing him, the Levy County Sheriff’s Office reported.
A 38-year-old woman and 12-year-old boy died in a vehicle crash as Debby approached Florida, local reports said.
Severe weather
Debby is expected to cause flooding from Virginia through Maine this weekend, potentially causing a “widespread flooding disaster,” according to AccuWeather. The storm can also spur tornadoes across the Southeast.
More than 8 inches of rain have fallen near Savannah, Georgia, and parts of the Charleston, South Carolina, area have seen about 6 inches of rain, according to The Weather Channel.
More than 110,000 customers in Florida are without power, along with about 20,000 in Georgia and nearly 19,000 in South Carolina, according to PowerOutage.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency disaster declaration in Florida, and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued a state of emergency for the state.
About 1,400 flights were delayed in the United States on Tuesday, and about 300 were canceled, according to FlightAware.
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