NASA images have revealed how Category 1 Hurricane Debby looked from space, just before it slammed into the Florida coast yesterday morning.
The hurricane, which has claimed at least five lives across the state according to The Associated Press, pounded into Florida's Big Bend region at around 7 a.m. local time on Monday, bringing 80 mph winds, storm surges and flash flooding.
No longer hurricane-force, the now tropical storm traveled across Florida throughout Monday, and is now blustering its way into Georgia, causing intense rainfall with warnings of "catastrophic flooding."
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Hurricane Debby dropped huge volumes of rain across Florida—over a foot in some regions—causing rapid and disastrous flash flooding in several areas. In Sarasota, around 500 people were rescued from flooded houses, and in Manatee County, nearly 200 more needed to be rescued from floodwaters.
"Essentially we've had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have," Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun said on social media.
Over 200,000 homes were left without power as of 11 a.m. local time on Monday, according to PowerOutage.us
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Five deaths have been reported from the storm so far, including a 13-year-old boy in Levy County, Florida and a 19-year-old man in Georgia who had trees fall onto their homes. A 64-year-old truck driver from Mississippi died when his vehicle fell into a canal in Hillsborough County and a 38-year-old woman and 12-year-old boy died in a car crash in Dixie County.
"In portions of Florida where Debby has passed, deadly hazards remain, including downed power lines and flooded areas. Ensure generators are properly ventilated to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. Exercise caution when using chainsaws and power tools, and drink plenty of water to avoid heat exhaustion," the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in a Forecast Discussion early on Tuesday morning.
The NASA image of the hurricane hitting Florida was snapped by the ABI (Advanced Baseline Imager) on the NOAA GOES-16 (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-16) at about 3 a.m. Eastern Time, roughly four hours before Debby made landfall.
The storm, which currently has wind speeds of about 45 mph, is expected to move slightly off the Georgia coast later today, possibly intensifying over the ocean, before moving back over South Carolina on Thursday, traveling up the East Coast.
"Potentially historic heavy rainfall across southeast Georgia and eastern South Carolina through Friday will likely result in areas of catastrophic flooding," the NHC said. "Heavy rainfall will likely result in flooding impacts from northern North Carolina through portions of Mid-Atlantic States and southern New England through Sunday Morning."
"Rainfall totals of 10 to 20 inches, with maximum amounts of 25 inches" are being forecast for certain regions of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina later this week, potentially causing disastrous flash flooding. Additionally, coastal communities are at risk from storm surges caused by intense winds.
"Dangerous storm surge and tropical storm conditions will spread northward along the southeast U.S. coast from northeastern Florida to North Carolina through the middle of the week," the NHC said. "Storm surge and tropical storm watches and warnings have been issued for portions of these areas. Residents in the storm surge watch and warning area should follow any advice given by local officials."
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