Hurricane Debby makes landfall on Florida’s Big Bend; tornadoes still a threat across state
Hurricane Debby strengthened in the Gulf of Mexico as it made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend early Monday while its bands continued to whip across the state with the threat of tornadoes, according to the National Hurricane Center.
What had been a tropical storm most of Sunday formed into a Category 1 hurricane before midnight, and continued to intensify overnight making landfall near Steinhatchee with sustained winds of 80 mph around 7 a.m.. The NHC reported a wind gust at the time of 95 mph at a weather station on nearby Horseshoe Beach. The path falls just 15 miles south of where Hurricane Idalia struck in 2023.
As of 8 a.m., the NHC said Debby remained a hurricane just inland with 75 mph sustained winds about 60 miles north-northwest of Cedar Key moving north-northeast at 10 mph. Debby’s hurricane-force winds extended 25 miles from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds were observed 140 miles from Debby’s core.
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 that runs through 4 p.m. The outer bands to the east of Debby’s center have spawned several tornado warnings across Florida overnight as the storm churned north.
The storm has already 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 the storm progressed north on Sunday.
While wind and storm surge are an immediate threat, flooding remains a major concern in the days to come, said Gov. Ron DeSantis during a Monday morning press conference.
“This storm has produced and will likely produce significant flooding events from Sarasota-Bradenton area all the way up to northern Florida,” he said. “There’s a threat, ongoing threat of that, over the ensuing days.”
He urged Floridians to remain inside.
“Don’t go out into the storm. Don’t drive on the roads, particularly when they’re flooded,” he said noting some traffic accidents already across the state. One semi truck, the driver of which is still missing, veered off a bridge into the water off Interstate 75 in Tampa while another car hydroplaned off the road in Dixie County, DeSantis said.
“When you have flood situations, that is the number one way where we will see fatalities is by people being out on the roads and hydroplaning or having other problems,” he said. “So do not go walk or drive into flooded roadways. There are hazards there. They’re dangerous. We want everybody to be safe.”
It’s the fourth hurricane to hit Florida in August since 2000 following Hurricane Charley in 2004, Katrina in 2005 and last year’s Hurricane Idalia.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said some places have already seen 10 to 12 inches in southwest Florida with rivers and streams expected to go into flood stage.
“This is going to be an event that is going to be probably here for the next five to seven days, maybe as long as 10 days depending on how much rainfall we get, so we are not running anywhere,” he said. “We are staying put and we’re going to make sure that we’re here to respond.”
He said first responders have access to 600,000 gallons of fuel across six fuel depots while the state has 850 debris disaster management sites for cleanup.
In an effort to stem any post-storm deaths and injuries, he urged those with damage on their homes to not to try and take care of it themselves.
“Please do not get up on a ladder. Do not try to put a tarp on a roof. Do not try to cut a limb. We have volunteer organizations that will come and help you with that,” Guthrie said asking people instead contact their local emergency management agency. “We will make sure somebody comes and helps you on your property. Do not risk yourself do not risk injury. We will come and help you.”
Storm surge was forecast to raise water levels from 6-10 feet on parts of Big Bend closest to the storm’s center. A tide station in Cedar Key on Monday morning recorded water level at 4.6 feet above normal, the NHC reported.
“The eyewall of Debby is moving onshore and landfall in the Florida Big Bend is expected to occur within the next few hours,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist John Cangialosi. “Doppler radar images from Tallahassee indicate that the eye of the hurricane has become a bit more circular and deep convection remains fairly well organized over the eastern eyewall, and in bands east of the center that have spread across portions of northern Florida.”
A hurricane warning remains in effect for the Florida coast from Yankeetown to Indian Pass with a tropical storm warning south of Yankeetown to Boca Grande and west of Indian Pass to Mexico Beach as well as on Florida’s east coast from St. Augustine north to the South Santee River in South Carolina.
As of 8:30 a.m., nearly 240,000 customers are without power in Florida, according to poweroutage.us, More than 26,000 remain without power in Pinellas County, which was lashed all day Sunday by bands from the storm. More than 14,000 were without power in Lake County.
DeSantis said power issues are not as bad as Idalia and nowhere near what was seen with 2022’s Hurricane Ian.
“We have a lot of restoration personnel ready to go to get it back on,” he said. “We do have 17,000 linemen that are ready to assist with restoring power immediately and I know a lot of the utilities have already restored hundreds of thousands of folks starting yesterday.”
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 in effect on the Florida coast from Englewood north to the middle of Longboat Key including Charlotte Harbor.
“A gradual decrease in forward speed with a turn toward the northeast and east is expected later today and Tuesday,” Cangialosi said. “On the forecast track, the center will reach the Florida Big Bend coast later this morning. Debby is then expected to move slowly across northern Florida and southern Georgia late today and Tuesday, and be near the Georgia coast by Tuesday night.”
A tropical storm watch for Lake County was changed to a tropical storm warning in Sunday.
“Outer rainbands of Debby will bring a threat of tropical storm-force wind gusts (up to 55 mph) overnight through Monday,” the National Weather Service said.
Lake County was under a flood watch having already seen from 1-2.5 inches of rain and up to 3 more inches forecast through 8 a.m. Monday.
The NWS said additional rainfall of 2-5 inches was expected especially northwest of Interstate 4, with areas southeast to get up to 2 inches. Localized flooding is possible, the NWS said.
The system has grown since becoming Tropical Depression Four late Friday and developing into a tropical storm on Saturday.
The NHC expects rainfall from 6 to 12 inches with some areas getting up to 18 inches across portions of Florida, and up to 30 inches across parts of the Southeast U.S. this weekend and through Thursday morning that could cause flash and urban flooding as well as some isolated river flooding.
“This potentially historic rainfall will likely result in areas of catastrophic flooding,” Cangialosi said.
The system had been building the last few days as a tropical wave that stretched hundreds of miles producing a large area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms moving across the northern Caribbean islands and southeastern Bahamas.
DeSantis declared most counties under a state of emergency earlier this week. Floods could ensue if the system continued its current slow course or even stalled over the Florida peninsula.
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 UTVs 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.
Also on Sunday, the NHC began tracking a new system with a chance to form into the season’s next tropical depression or storm.
As of the NHC’s 2 a.m. tropical outlook Monday, the tropical wave was located near the Caribbean’s Windward Islands with disorganized showers and thunderstorms.
“Environmental conditions appear generally favorable for some slow development over the next week while the system moves westward at around 20 mph over the Caribbean Sea,” forecasters said.
“Some slow development of this system is possible over the next week as the system moves quickly westward at around 20 mph, crossing the Windward Islands early this week and moving into the central and western Caribbean by the mid to latter part of this week,” forecasters said.
The NHC gives it a 10% chance to develop in the next two days and 30% in the next seven days.
If it were to form into a named storm, it could take on the name Tropical Storm Ernesto.
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-Nov. 30, but the height of storm formation runs from mid-August into October.