After making landfall a second time early Thursday, Tropical Storm Debby further inundated the rain-soaked Carolinas as well as parts of Virginia, worsening widespread flooding and spawning several tornadoes as the Northeast braces for the system’s arrival.
Debby made its second U.S. landfall around 2 a.m. near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, just northeast of Charleston, according to the National Hurricane Center. By 9 a.m., over half a foot of rain had fallen in parts of central North Carolina, causing “life threatening flash flooding” as waterways crested, turning roads into rivers.
Debby is expected to drop 4 to 8 inches of rain − some areas could pick up to 15 inches − across parts of the Carolinas and Virginia on Thursday and Friday. “Numerous to widespread areas of flash flooding are expected to continue in association with Debby, with considerable to locally catastrophic impacts,” the weather service’s Storm Prediction Center said.
Debby is forecast to weaken as it picks up speed and moves north, dumping up to half an inch of rain from Maryland through Upstate New York and Vermont. Flood watches throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions were set to take effect Thursday evening and last through Friday night.
The storm has drenched Florida, Georgia and South Carolina in over a foot of rain, breaking several decades-old records. Some areas of South Carolina are expected to reach over 2 feet of rain by the weekend. Across the region, flash flooding triggered water rescues, overtook roads and breached several dams as winds knocked over trees and tangled power lines. Officials have said at least six people have died as a result of the storm.
Developments:
∎ Across several counties in central North Carolina, 3 to 7 inches of rain has fallen and an additional 1 to 3 inches is forecast Thursday, according to the weather service in Raleigh. The weather service warned of “life-threatening flash flooding of creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses,” including in the city of Fayetteville.
∎ Millions of people from southeast Georgia up though the Carolinas and western New York were under flood advisories, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of North Carolina and Virginia, including the cities of Wakefield and Virginia Beach, were under tornado watches.
∎ Virginia’s Department of Emergency Management warned residents on X to stay aware of possible tornadoes Thursday and Friday. “Tropical Storm Debby has the potential to create tornadoes, with the threat potentially lasting through the overnight hours,” the post said.
∎ In Florida, cleanup crews have cleared over 245 miles of road and eight acres of debris across the state, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Emergency responders in high-water vehicles and on foot rescued at least 120 people trapped by floodwaters.
Debby tracker map:See tropical storm’s path as it’s projected to push northeast
Tropical Storm Debby unleashes tornadoes; school damaged
Tropical Storm Debby spun multiple tornadoes across North Carolina overnight as it made a second U.S. landfall.
A confirmed tornado touched down in North Carolina’s Sampson County, damaging two homes, according to weather service reports. In Wilson County, east of Raleigh, a tornado damaged a middle school and several homes, according to a statement from the county posted on X. A suspected tornado was also reported in Pender County.
On Wednesday, the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina, confirmed four tornado touchdowns: In Moncks Corner, Edisto Beach, Kiawah Island and Lady’s Island. Several structures were damaged as trees uprooted and utility poles were toppled.
Earlier in the week, at least four confirmed tornadoes tore across parts of Florida, the weather service said.
150,000 in the dark; Duke Energy scrambles to fix outages in NC
From Florida to Virginia, 150,000 homes and businesses were without power Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
The majority of outages – over 132,000 – were reported in North Carolina, which has been pummeled by Debby’s most intense conditions since the tropical storm made landfall around 2 a.m. The largest utility provider in the state, Duke Energy, reported 101,817 outages. On Wednesday, Duke Energy said it had 7,500 linemen and other employees staged across the Carolinas to respond to outages.
Meanwhile, South Carolina reported over 7,700 outages and Virginia had 4,800, according to PowerOutage.us.
More than 7,000 utility customers across northern Florida’s Big Bend region, where Debby made its first U.S. landfall on Monday, were still in the dark four after four days. Since Wednesday, North Florida and other parts of the South were baked by a heat wave that raised temperatures into the high 90s and heat index levels into the triple digits.
Where is Tropical Storm Debby?
Tropical Storm Debby was located 50 miles north-northeast of Charleston and 60 miles southwest of Myrtle Beach, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Moving northwest at 5 mph, Debby has maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, the hurricane center said. Debby is forecast to weaken over the next day or so, becoming a tropical depression by as early as Thursday afternoon before merging with a front on Friday and being downgraded to a extratropical cyclone.
On Friday, Debby is expected to move across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions before emerging over Canada on Saturday, according to the hurricane center.
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