After striking Florida as a hurricane, the Tropical Storm Debby is now poised to bombard the American East Coast with heavy showers and potential flooding. Power outages have been experienced by thousands following the storm’s harsh assault.
A 2pm advisory from the National Hurricane Center has reported that Debby’s winds have decreased to a speed of 104km/h from a previous speed of 130km/h at the time it struck near Steinhatchee, Florida. While the storm is going on a weakening trend, the immediate hazard is now represented by the expected downpours. As much as 30cm worth of rainfall across northern Florida to North Carolina is predicted, as Debby slowly circles the area by Saturday.
Roads are expected to be flooded, crops damaged, and the prospect of people having to leave their dwellings is becoming likely. Parts of Georgia and the Carolinas are bracing themselves for rainfall as high as 75cm, a considerable amount before the storm comes to a halt, reports the Hurricane Center.
In anticipation of what could be a record-breaking rainfall, serious flooding is predicted by the Hurricane Center. They anticipate both flash and urban flooding, and substantial river flooding is expected.
PowerOutage.us has reported that the storm has already resulted in power being cut off to nearly 300,000 homes across northern Florida and Georgia. Furthermore, FlightAwar, an airline tracking service, reported that over 1,600 flights across the US have been grounded due to the poor weather.
The Governors of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina have all declared states of emergency, and the offer of federal assistance has been approved by President Joe Biden. Coastal residents in the direct path of the storm have been instructed to evacuate their homes, and shelters have been made ready.
Assuming there is a high incidence of flooding across the southern coastal states, particularly in the cities of Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, damages could escalate to as much as $1.5 billion (€1.37 billion), according to disaster modeller Chuck Watson from Enki Research.
In a historical context, in 2018, the southeast US suffered terrible damages due to the heavy rains from Hurricane Florence. More than 50 people lost their lives, and agricultural and infrastructural damages were significant throughout the region.
Tyler Roys, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc., warned that despite Debby’s weakened power, the most damaging impact of the storm could be due to its sluggish movement through the coastal area. Further, rainfall will likely remain a significant focus for the duration of Debby’s existence which is deemed worrisome.
The storm’s movement is resulting from high-pressure systems located to its northwest and northeast, rendering the atmosphere’s strong steering currents ineffective—a point highlighted by Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane researcher at Colorado State University. He further cautioned that the storm’s slow pace could inevitably lead to disastrous flood incidences.
If Debby re-emerges, as predicted, into the Atlantic by Tuesday, it will exacerbate conditions by pushing seawater inland, thus obstructing rivers from discharging into the ocean whilst also maintaining heavy rain further inland.
Debby is the second storm to have hit the US this year, with Beryl causing wide-scale power outages in eastern Texas the preceding month. Typically, the Atlantic basin registers its second wind system with speeds of no less than 119km/h no earlier than the 26th of August.
Moreover, Western Florida had weathered rather devastating storms in recent past such as the 2018 Category 5 Michael – accounting for 16 deaths in the US – and Ian, a Category 4 storm of 2022 which claimed over 160 lives. Hurricane Idalia also struck the Big Bend region as a Category 3 hurricane the previous year.
Concurrently, weather forecasters are monitoring an area of unsettled weather in the Atlantic that could shift into the western Caribbean over the course of this week. It bears a 30% probability of developing into the season’s consequent storm within a week.