At least four people have died as a result of Tropical Storm Debby, which pounded Florida with heavy rain and winds Monday as the system crawls north into Georgia.
Debby made landfall on Florida’s Big Bend around 7 a.m. as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. Hours later, it was downgraded to a tropical storm.
But the damage had already been done despite it coming ashore near Steinhatchee, a sparsely populated community of about 1,000 residents. On Monday morning, about 30 miles inland, a 13-year-old boy was killed after a tree crashed into a mobile home in Levy County, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies had responded to the home at 8 a.m. and found the boy “crushed inside.”
“Our thoughts and prayers are with this family as they deal with this tragedy,” the sheriff’s office said. “We encourage everyone to use extreme caution as they begin to assess and clean up the damage. Downed powerlines and falling trees are among the many hazards. One life is too many. Please be safe.”
A National Weather Service meteorologist told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday that the heavy rain saturates the soil, which makes trees more likely to topple over. Officials also warned of life-threatening storm surges in Florida due to the slow-moving storm, which had the had the potential to lead to severe flooding in the southeastern U.S.
Extensive flooding was captured Monday in Cedar Key, Florida, with many roads covered in several feet of water, according to photos taken by Cedar Key Fire Rescue. In other areas, trees toppled over and debris littered the ground.
“Let’s continue to pray that the second surge does not do any more damage than this one did,” fire officials said.
Further south, a truck driver died after losing control and colliding with a concrete wall along I-75 in the Tampa area early Monday, according to the Associated Press. The impact sent his truck into a canal.
Late Sunday, a 12-year-old boy was among two people killed in a wreck in Dixie County, located east of Steinhatchee. Authorities said the boy was in a car driven by a 38-year-old woman that struck a median and then overturned off the wet road. Another teenager in the vehicle was taken to the hospital with serious injuries, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for 61 of the state’s 64 counties. There were about 3,000 National Guard service members readying for response efforts.
A flash flood warning was issued for parts of Baker, Columbia, Hamilton and Suwannee counties in northern Florida, according to the NWS. Officials said up to 12 inches of rain had already fallen and up to 5 more inches were expected in the area of the warning, which should last until 7:45 p.m.
“This is a particularly dangerous situation,” the NWS wrote. “Seek higher ground now!”
As of 5 p.m. Monday, at least 195,000 customers were without power across the state, down from about 240,000 a few hours earlier, according to poweroutage.us. Officials said 17,000 linemen have been mobilized to assist with restoration efforts.
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