Debby is the tropical system that won’t stop giving – rainfall that is – trillions and trillions of gallons are falling as the former hurricane meanders up the East Coast. As of Friday, Debby has claimed at least eight lives and flooded dozens of neighborhoods. The storm continues breaching and collapsing roads and dams as the rain sends stream and river levels soaring in a matter of hours.
Here’s a look at where Tropical Storm Debby is, where it is heading next, forecasts for the weekend, and the trail of flooding it has left in its wake since it first made landfall in Florida on Monday:
Where is Debby right now?
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Record rainfall in the South from Debby
Debby has spawned several tornadoes, at least one deadly, as it brought torrential rainfall to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, leaving extensive flooding and overwhelmed communities in its wake. In some cases, the rain and stream levels set new records.
Debby projected rainfall
The storm made a second landfall in South Carolina on Thursday, bringing life-threatening flash flooding and is projected to bring up to 6 inches more rain to some areas over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Hurricane Debby flash flood risk
Flash flooding triggered water rescues, overtook roads and breached several dams as winds knocked over trees and tangled power lines. The weather service warns that the risk will continue through Sunday Morning.
More than 250,000 have experienced power outages
More than 300,000 power outages have been reported over the past three days in these states as of Thursday morning, according to USA TODAY’s power outage database – some in Florida were in the dark for days. Tens od thousands are already seeing outages in Virginia.
How flooding can overwhelm waterways, creating deadly conditions
Natural water systems like rivers, bayous and lakes help regulate water levels during rainfall, but prolonged precipitation can cause water flow to stall and even reverse direction.
A look at Debby from space
Debby’s damage could have been worse
“While rain totals are not expected to reach the initially feared extreme rates of nearly 30 inches, any time a region of the country experiences 10 to 20 inches of rain in just a few days, that is quite notable,” said Steve Bowen, chief science officer for Gallagher Re, a reinsurance brokerage. He pointed to previous events such as Hurricane Florence in 2018 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016 that brought torrential rain and flooding to the Carolinas.
In a preliminary summary of the storm, Bowen said economic losses from Debby would be mostly water-related and may total in the low single digit billions.
“The economic toll of Florence alone was $30 billion (in today’s dollars),” he said. While Debby’s rainfall footprint “will be much more expansive,” its rain totals aren’t likely to be as robust.
Given the extent of the flooding, Bowen said: “This is yet another example that while there is often much attention on the category intensity of a tropical system, it’s the impacts of water (either coastal or inland) from these events that can be the deadliest and most damaging.”
More visual stories and hurricane coverage:
Track Tropical Storm Debby: USA TODAY’s Interactive Storm Tracker
Climate change is causing more extreme downpours: See how your state is impacted
Live updates: Fast-moving Debby threatens Northeast with more dangerous conditions
‘An early and violent start’: NOAA issues dire hurricane season forecast
Tracking power outages: Nearly 130K in North Carolina without power
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Frank Pompa, and Shawn J. Sullivan, USA TODAY
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