The tropical storm Debby continues to gain strength, so it is expected to become a hurricane during the night of this Sunday, August 4, as is approaching landfall on Mondayin Florida’s Big Bend region, where residents have fled a week-long disaster in the southern part of the state.
Maximum winds of Debby remained at 105 kilometers per hour until Sunday, but are expected to reach 85 mph, or Category 1as it approaches the coast. It is likely to push up to 10 feet (3 metres) of water inland and drop up to a foot of rain, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a warning issued at 5 p.m.
“This is a life-threatening situation“Richard Pasch, a hurricane specialist at the center, wrote in a forecast. “Strong Rains that could reach historic levels in southeastern Georgia and South Carolina through Friday morning will likely result in catastrophic flooding in some areas.”
President Joe Biden has declared an emergency in Florida and ordered federal resources to assist the state, the White House said. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp have declared emergencies in their states as Debby moves north. Florida’s Dixie County ordered coastal residents to flee as of 2 p.m. Sunday, and adjacent Taylor County has opened shelters.
Florida’s coastal areas could suffer damages and losses of more than 250 million dollarsIf the storm causes widespread flooding in the South, particularly in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, the toll could reach $1 billion, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeling expert at Enki Research.
At 5 pm, Debby was located about 120 miles west of Tampa. The danger to the coast has increased because there is a chance the storm could intensify rapidly, with winds possibly increasing to about 35 mph within 24 hours, according to Ryan Truchelut, president of the commercial forecasting firm WeatherTiger.
Debby’s progress has slowed, meaning it will have more time to gain strength as it stays over warm Gulf waters for longer, said Matt Rinde, a meteorologist with commercial forecasting company AccuWeather.
While its stay over water may strengthen the storm, the hurricane center said it also encountered dry air, which has taken away some of its strength.
Widespread power outages are likely in parts of Florida, but the storm itself will be too far east to affect offshore oil and natural gas operations in the western Gulf of Mexico, which will prevent energy markets from experiencing major shocksDebby is the fourth storm of 2024 and will be the second hurricane to hit the United States this year.
In recent years, West Florida has been hit by storms such as Michael, Category 5, in 2018 (which killed at least 16 people in the United States) and Ianwhich hit as a Category 4 storm in 2022 and left more than 160 dead. A year ago, Hurricane Idalia made landfall in the Big Bend area as a Category 3 hurricane.
Warm ocean waters in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico have warned that this will be a very active storm season in the Atlantic. In typical years, the fourth tropical system usually does not arrive until mid-August..
After what Debby Once it makes landfall, it will meander across northern Florida and southern Georgia for days before possibly re-emerging over the Atlantic on Aug. 7 and making a second landfall on Aug. 8 in South Carolina. Its onshore winds will push water toward the coast and prevent local rivers from draining flooding rains from inland, Rinde said.
In addition to Debbymeteorologists are observing a second possible storm from the Atlantic that could move toward the western Caribbean later this week and has a 20 percent chance of becoming the next storm of the season.
