August 7 :
A day after making landfall as a hurricane off the coast of Florida, Tropical Storm Debby pounded the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia with a torrent of rain, potentially causing "catastrophic flooding" in Charleston, Savannah, and other places on August 6. A minimum of six lives have been lost in Georgia and Florida as a result of the storm, which is anticipated to remain over the mid-Atlantic and southeastern shores for several days.
Debby has the ability to bring about rainfall on a scale never seen before. Approximately 10 to 20 inches (25 cm and 51 cm) of rain is expected, with a high of 25 inches (63.5 cm), according to the National Hurricane Center. This is expected to cause catastrophic flooding in parts of southeast North Carolina and the eastern half of South Carolina until Friday.
Those states' governors have proclaimed emergencies. Storm on August 6th with 64 kph winds gently passed south of Savannah, Georgia, on the afternoon of the same day. Parts of the mid-Atlantic could experience flooding through Sunday due to heavy rainfall, according to the Miami-based center.
According to the National Weather Service, greater than 8 inches (20 cm) of rain has already been dumped over Savannah and Valdosta, Georgia. According to the meteorological service, 10–12 inches (25–30 cm) of rain has fallen on Charleston and Hilton Head, South Carolina, thus far, and more is on the way.
Outside the iconic Bellwether House in Savannah, a 16-room inn in the city's historic core, the rain was pouring down heavily, but general manager Victoria Hill wasn't worried.
"This place was built in 1876," she whispered. "It's built rock-solid, and you can imagine how many storms have hit over the last century."
Although Hill did mention that a small number of visitors were remaining, the majority of tourists had cancelled their reservations due to the storm. Here, we are open and ready to hold our ground. We will persevere through this as a team.
The mayor of Charleston, William Cogswell, predicted that the city would get almost two feet (61 cm) of rain before the storm passed. He warned that storm surges of four to six feet (1.2 to 1.8 meters) would block the outflow of floodwaters to the ocean even during low tide.
Cogswell made the statement late on August 5th, stating that there are "not enough pumps in the world" to manage the amount of rain occurring. Soon after, he announced that the citywide curfew would be in effect until the morning of August 7th.
"Nobody should be out on the streets in these conditions unless it is an absolute emergency," the city's mayor stated. Approximately fifty miles (eighty kilometers) west of Charleston, in Colleton County, which is part of the Lowcountry region of the state, the county sheriff's office issued an evacuation order on Tuesday morning due to concerns about a possible breach at the McGrady Dam.
According to local accounts, on the morning of August 5th, Debby, a Category 1 hurricane, made landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida's Gulf Coast. She dumped 8 to 16 inches (20 to 41 cm) of rain on parts of central Florida. There were six fatalities in Florida and one in the Valdosta, Georgia area as a result of the storm.
Florida saw a decrease in the number of consumers without power from 350,000 on Monday to more than 88,000 as of Tuesday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. And about 10,000 people in Georgia were without electricity. There were hundreds of flight cancellations involving the state.
Furthermore, the National Hurricane Center has warned that some weather conditions have the potential to produce tornadoes. Early Tuesday morning, a suspected twister tossed automobiles and damaged restaurants in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, which is approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of Charleston. Minor injuries were reported by Mayor Thomas Hamilton.
After slowing down and moving eastward off the coast of Georgia on Tuesday, Debby will turn north and meander inland over South Carolina near Charleston on August 8, according to the NHC. The Savannah Morning News stated that a presidential campaign stop that was supposed to take place this week in Savannah has been rescheduled by Vice President Kamala Harris.
A "once-in-a-thousand-year" rainfall storm is likely, according to Savannah Mayor Van Johnson. “This will practically create islands in the metropolis," Johnson warned.
It was Tuesday when Cedrick King, a businessman from coastal Brunswick, Georgia, and his family were prepared to make the five-hour journey to Atlanta. "We're headed north, far away from this storm," he pointed out.
