Tropical Storm Debby swirls over Atlantic, expected to again douse the Carolinas before moving north
CTV
Tropical Storm Debby is taking a breather Wednesday over the western Atlantic Ocean but it isn’t done dousing the coastal Carolinas before it slowly marches north.
Tropical Storm Debby is taking a breather Wednesday over the western Atlantic Ocean but it isn’t done dousing the coastal Carolinas before it slowly marches north.
Debby was expected to restrengthen and turn north toward the South Carolina coastline for a second landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday, weather officials. The storm carried the threat not only of additional rainfall but also of tornadoes in coastal sections of the Carolinas spreading north into southeast Virginia on Thursday.
The slow-moving storm drenched coastal cities in Georgia and South Carolina late Monday into Tuesday, stirring up tornadoes and submerging streets with waist-high floodwaters. The storm has dropped more than a foot (30 centimetres) of rain in some places already and could dump staggering rain totals of up to 25 inches (64 centimetres) in places by the time it ends.
Charleston and Savannah, Georgia, were deluged into Tuesday, with curfews set and roads blocked by police. Dozens of roads were closed in the city of Charleston because of flooding similar to what it sees several times a year because of rising sea levels.
As Debby swirls just offshore, the heavy rain is expected to move into parts of South and North Carolina that have already seen two billion-dollar floods in eight years.
In one Savannah neighbourhood, firefighters used boats to evacuate some residents and waded through floodwaters to deliver bottled water and other supplies to those who refused to leave.
Michael Jones said water gushed into his home Monday evening, overturning the refrigerator and causing furniture to float. Outside, the water seemed to be everywhere and was too deep to flee safely. So Jones spent a sleepless night on his kitchen table before firefighters going door to door came in a boat Tuesday morning.
