Slow-Moving Tropical Storm Debby Swamps US East Coast

Three days after striking Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, a sluggish and weakened Tropical Storm Debby continues to cause damage. Its heavy rains have flooded large parts of the eastern coastal US.

The storm has claimed six lives in Florida and Georgia. It's moving up the coast at a 4-mile-per-hour pace. Along the way, it's dumping heavy rainfall across the southeastern US. The rains have swelled rivers and streams out of their banks and flooded roads as far north as New York City.

Flooding from Debby prompted a 32-hour curfew in Charleston, South Carolina. And some people in Savannah, Georgia had to be rescued by boat. 

Michael Jones of Savannah told The Associated Press (AP) that rising water rushed into his house Monday night. The flood waters tipped over his refrigerator and floated chairs off the floor. Jones waited for help to arrive while sleeping on a kitchen table.  

“It was hell all night,” Jones told the AP.

The National Weather Service has measured nearly 10.5 inches of rain in Savannah in the past three days. That's nearly twice as much as the city received in all of August 2023. Some cities in Florida have received nearly 20 inches during the same period.  

On Wednesday, Debby’s eye was centered about 90 miles east of Savannah. The storm was on track to make landfall again today. Forecasts then call for it to slowly march northward toward Washington, DC, by the weekend.  

“Tropical cyclones always produce heavy rain,” the National Hurricane Center’s Richard Pasch told the AP. “But when they move very slowly, that’s the worst situation.” That allows the rains to fall in one place.  

Reflect: How can individuals best prepare for and respond to natural disasters in their area?