Debby now a hurricane, threatens Florida, other parts of US southeast
- Tropical Storm Debby strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it approached Florida
Debby strengthened into a hurricane late Sunday as it bore down on Florida’s Gulf Coast with potential for history-making levels of rain and major flooding, prompting evacuation orders.
Debby grew rapidly into a Category One hurricane, the lowest on a five-stage scale, thanks to unusually warm Gulf of Mexico and is expected to slam into Florida’s Big Bend region around midday Monday.
The National Hurricane Center warned there is a danger of life-threatening storm surges along Florida’s Gulf Coast with 1.8 to 3 metres of inundation above ground level in some areas.
The storm will probably cause catastrophic flooding with “potentially historic heavy rainfall” when Debby moves northeast across Georgia and South Carolina over the next few days, the NHC said.
“We are looking at potentially really, really significant flooding that will happen, particularly in north-central Florida,” Governor Ron DeSantis told an emergency briefing on the storm Sunday.
He and NHC deputy director Jamie Rhome have stressed that Floridians should be making and completing their final emergency preparations immediately.