Hurricane Debby Makes Landfall on Florida

Hurricane Debby strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico as it made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend early Monday, Aug. 5. According to the National Hurricane Center, it continues to whip across the state with the threat of tornadoes.

As of 7 a.m. on Aug. 6, at least five people have been reported dead—including two kids, according to ABC News.

Though it remained a tropical storm for most of Sunday, Aug. 4, it turned into a Category 1 hurricane just before midnight and continued to build into the early morning of Aug. 5. At around 7 a.m., Debby made landfall near Steinhatchee, Florida with 80 mph winds. Its path falls just 15 miles south of where Hurricane Idalia struck in 2023.

The National Weather Service also issued an updated tornado watch Monday morning that includes Orange, Lake, Seminole, Osceola, Polk, and Volusia plus Gulf Coast and North Florida counties.

The storm has also sent storm surge to flood the coastal areas of cities from Fort Myers north to the Panhandle—while much of the west coast endured power outages, downed trees, and some structural damage.

As of Aug. 6, Debby is crawling northeast at just 7 mph.

The highest rainfall totals from Tropical Storm Debby so far have been in Florida, where a foot and a half of rain fell. In Georgia, more than 10 inches of rain is estimated just north of Savannah.

Another 8 to 20 inches of rain is forecast for Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, with the highest totals over the next two days expected along the South Carolina-North Carolina border.

This is the fourth hurricane to hit Florida during the month of August since 2000, following Hurricane Charley in 2004, Katrina in 2005, and last year’s Hurricane Idalia.

On Monday, roughly 300,000 customers were without power in Florida, according to poweroutage.us. Now, as of Aug. 6, ABC reports that that number had been cut in half to roughly 150,000 without power.

A storm surge warning is in effect for the Florida coast from the middle of Longboat Key north to Indian Pass—including Tampa Bay—and on the Georgia and South Carolina coast from the mouth of the St. Mary’s River to South Santee River. A storm surge watch is also in effect on the Florida coast from Englewood north to the middle of Longboat Key, including Charlotte Harbor.

The Florida National Guard has around 3,000 service members readying for response efforts, the governor’s office had stated previously in an email.

In addition, 70 members of the Florida State Guard along with nine shallow water vessels, 10 all-terrain vehicles, and two amphibious rescue vehicles have been staged for deployment. Seven search and rescue crews are prepared to deploy from Camp Blanding. Also, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has readied high-water vehicles and all other storm response resources statewide.

Tropical Storm Debby became the fourth official system of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. The others were Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl, and Tropical Storm Chris.

Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, but the height of storm formation runs from mid-August into October.