The Latest: Debby makes landfall again as tropical storm soaks South Carolina
Aug 7, 2024, 11:16 PM | Updated: Aug 8, 2024, 2:24 pm
As Debby drenches South Carolina, heavy rainfall from the tropical storm is also expected to cause flooding across portions of the Mid-Atlantic states and Northeast through Saturday morning. Meahwhile, residents as far away as the Great Lakes and New Jersey have also experienced heavy rains connected to the slow-moving tropical storm.
Here’s the Latest:
Tropical Storm Debby is heading up the East Coast as it has made landfall for a second time. The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina.
The storm is expected to keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding all the way up through the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by the weekend. Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
As Debby drenches South Carolina, heavy rainfall from the tropical storm is also expected to cause flooding across portions of the Mid-Atlantic states and Northeast through Saturday morning.
In Bulloch County northwest of Savannah, Georgia, at least four dams have been breached by floodwaters, but so far no fatalities have been reported, authorities said at a Wednesday news briefing.
More than 75 people have been rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, the county’s director of emergency management. About 100 roads have been closed, he said.
“We’ve been faced with a lot of things we’ve never been faced with before,” Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said. “I’m 78-plus years old and have never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It’s amazing what has happened, and amazing what is going to continue to happen until all these waters get out of here.”
Gene Taylor was waiting for a few inches of water to drain back out of his home as high tide passed Wednesday afternoon at his home along French Quarter Creek, not far from the Cooper River in Huger and about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Charleston.
This is the fourth time his home’s been flooded in the past nine years, and he heeded the warnings this time, moving things up or out.
“To save everything, we’ve learned from the past it’s better be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we got it,” Taylor said. “We got caught with our pants down in 2015. We waited, didn’t think the water was going to come up as quick. But it did, and it caught us. We couldn’t even get the vehicles out.”
A few doors down, Charles Granger was cleaning up after about 8 inches (20 centimeters) of water got into his home — a common annoyance now.
“Eight inches disrupts your whole life,” Grainger said. “You don’t get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It’s part of living on the creek.”
Water levels are rising as Tropical Storm Debby’s rainfall drains out to sea. The National Weather Service in Charleston tweeted that the Canoochee River in Claxton, Georgia have neared 18 feet, surpassing previous flood record set in 1925.
No deaths or injuries have been reported from Tropical Story Debby in South Carolina, but Gov. Henry McMaster said Wednesday that the state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play.
“We’ve been lucky so far. Things have not been as bad as they could have been,” McMaster said of heavy rains Monday and Tuesday that caused flooding that damaged over 60 homes but did not cause significant problems to roads or water systems.
Act 2 is overnight into Thursday when Debby moves back onshore and heavy rain returns, this time to the northern part of the coast and inland. An additional 4 to 8 inches of rain could fall, said John Quagliariello, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia.
“It may not be as catastrophic as what we were saying, but we still think as these rain bans develop they could sit over the same area for long periods of time, produce a lot of rainfall and a lot of flooding,” Quagliariello said.
The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as it flows to the Atlantic Ocean.
