Officials have predicted record heavy rains and flash floods for several days.
Storm Debby has made landfall on the southeast coast of the United States in Florida and cut off electricity for hundreds of thousands of people. In addition, at least four people are said to have died.
Officials say danger remains high as the storm moves across the state into Georgia and South Carolina, despite Debby’s downgrading from a hurricane back to a tropical storm, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Debby landed in Florida on Monday morning local time. According to a website that monitors power outages, approximately 275,000 customers have suffered from power outages.
The authorities have predicted possibly record-breaking heavy rains and flash floods for several days. A rain front moving ahead of the storm already caused localized flooding on Florida’s southwest coast.
According to the NHC, Debby was previously a Category 1 hurricane, the lowest on the five-step scale, but its wind speeds had weakened after the storm made landfall. The NHC warned of life-threatening storm surge along the southeastern U.S. coast, saying floodwaters would reach 1.8 to 3 meters above the ground in some areas. Evacuation advisories had been issued for at least nine Florida counties.
The storm is expected to bring torrential rain as it moves from Florida northeast to Georgia and South Carolina over the next few days. According to the NHC, the rains are possibly historically heavy. A state of emergency has already been declared for South Carolina and Georgia due to the approaching storm. The storm has been fueled by an unusually warm Gulf of Mexico.