{"id":30608,"date":"2024-08-07T04:16:23","date_gmt":"2024-08-07T09:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=30608"},"modified":"2024-08-07T04:17:08","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T09:17:08","slug":"tropical-storm-debby-churns-over-the-atlantic-before-making-second-landfall-on-east-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=30608","title":{"rendered":"Tropical Storm Debby churns over the Atlantic before making second landfall on East Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tropical Storm Debby<\/a> is taking a breather over the western Atlantic ocean but it isn\u2019t done dousing the coastal Carolinas before it slowly marches north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debby was expected to turn north late Wednesday toward the South Carolina coastline for a\u2002second landfall<\/a>, weather officials said Tuesday night. Debby carries the threat of additional rainfall and tornadoes in coastal sections of the Carolinas, spreading north into southeast Virginia Thursday. It is finally forecast to pick up speed then, and it could move up the East Coast into the Washington area by Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The slow moving storm<\/a> drenched coastal cities in Georgia and South Carolina late Monday into Tuesday, stirring up tornadoes and submerging streets with waist-high floodwaters. The storm has dropped more than a foot of rain in some places already and could dump staggering rain totals of up to 25 inches in places by the time it ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Charleston and Savannah, Georgia, were deluged into Tuesday, with curfews set and roads blocked by police. Dozens of roads were closed in the city of Charleston because of flooding similar to what it sees several times a year because of rising sea levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Debby swirls just offshore, the heavy rain is expected to move into parts of South and North Carolina that have already seen two billion-dollar floods in eight years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one Savannah neighborhood, firefighters used boats to evacuate some residents and waded through floodwaters to deliver bottled water and other supplies to those who refused to leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Jones said water gushed into his home Monday evening, overturning the refrigerator and causing furniture to float. Outside, the water seemed to be everywhere and was too deep to flee safely. So Jones spent a sleepless night on his kitchen table before firefighters going door to door came in a boat Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was hell all night,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Charleston, Mayor William Cogswell said the road closures have kept businesses and homes from unnecessary damage and avoided the need for any high-water rescues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe especially don\u2019t need any yahoos driving through the water and causing damage to properties,\u201d Cogswell said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up to 15 inches of rain was expected in some places in the Carolinas, totals that are close to what the region saw in a historic flood from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Two years later, many of those records were broken during Hurricane Florence. Both storms killed dozens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Carolina and Virginia have both declared a state of emergency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe effects of Debby are far-reaching, and our neighboring states are facing significant challenges,\u201d Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several areas along North Carolina\u2019s coastline are prone to flooding, such as Wilmington and the Outer Banks. Virginia could see impacts including strong winds, heavy rains and flooding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debby\u2019s center was more than 30 miles southeast of Savannah on Tuesday night, according to a bulletin from the National Hurricane Center. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was heading east at 5 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTropical cyclones always produce heavy rain, but normally as they\u2019re moving, you know, it doesn\u2019t accumulate that much in one place,\u201d said Richard Pasch, of the hurricane center. \u201cBut when they move very slowly, that\u2019s the worst situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be lulls in the rain as dry spells appear between bands around the center of the poorly organized storm, forecasters said. But some bands will be heavy and keep moving over the same places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Green Pond in rural Colleton County, South Carolina, reported the most rain so far, just over 14 inches (36 centimeters). A nearby dam had water run over its top but did not crumble, while trees and washouts blocked a number of roads, county Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief David Greene said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Close to a foot fell down-coast from Charleston to Savannah, where the National Weather Service reported 6.68 inches just on Monday. That\u2019s already a month\u2019s worth in a single day: In all of August 2023, the city got 5.56 inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tornadoes knocked down trees and damaged a few homes on Kiawah Island and Edisto Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crooked Hammock Brewery in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, decided to close early Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlash flooding is super unpredictable, and we\u2019d rather our staff and guests be home and safe,\u201d marketing coordinator Georgena Dimitriadis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Far to the north in New York City, heavy storms that meteorologists said were being enhanced by Debby flooded some streets and expressways, stranding motorists. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch until noon Wednesday for the entire city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emergency officials warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some New York City neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday along the Gulf Coast of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank, WTSP-TV reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 500 people were rescued Monday from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, police said. Just north of Sarasota, Manatee County officials said more than 200 people were rescued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials said it may take two weeks to fully assess the damage in parts of north-central Florida as they wait for rivers to crest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re going to see the tributaries rise. That\u2019s just inevitable. How much? We\u2019ll see,\u201d Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday. \u201cIt may be that it\u2019s not flooded today and it could be flooded tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp also warned of more rain and flooding to come, saying, \u201cDo not let this storm lull you to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations making federal disaster assistance available to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tropical Storm Debby is taking a breather over the western Atlantic ocean but it isn\u2019t done dousing the coastal Carolinas before it slowly marches north. Debby was expected to turn north late Wednesday toward the South Carolina coastline for a\u2002second landfall, weather officials said Tuesday night. Debby carries the threat of additional rainfall and tornadoes in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":30609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5780],"tags":[29969,24410,1218,3485,21845],"class_list":["post-30608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-livehood","tag-debbie","tag-rainfall","tag-storm","tag-tornado","tag-tropical-storm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30610,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608\/revisions\/30610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}