The storm is expected to reach hurricane-strength before it makes landfall in Florida on Monday. It could drop record-breaking rainfall amounts in parts of Georgia and South Carolina.
Forecasters expect Tropical Storm Debby, a major weather system churning in the Gulf of Mexico, to reach hurricane-strength over the weekend before making landfall in Florida Monday morning.
State officials and meteorologists are urging residents along Florida’s Big Bend coast and beyond to prepare for high winds, potentially severe flooding and unusually heavy rains.
“It’s going to be far beyond the center of the storm. So just prepare for that,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said of the rainfall forecast during a Sunday morning press conference. “Just because you’re not in the eye of the storm, it does not mean you are not going to have major, major impacts from the storm.”
The National Hurricane Center says Debby could unleash catastrophic conditions in Florida as well as in parts of Georgia and South Carolina later in the week, dropping potentially record-breaking rainfall amounts in those two states.
“There are some really amazing rainfall totals being forecast — and amazing in a very bad way,” National Hurricane Center director Michael Brennan said during a Sunday briefing.
Florida could see six to 12 inches of rain, with isolated amounts as high as 18 inches, and coastal areas in Georgia and South Carolina could be hit even harder.
