Debby makes landfall as Cat 1 hurricane; thousands without power

Hurricane Debby made landfall in the Big Bend Monday morning. Photo courtesy of NWS.

Update: Gov. Ron DeSantis will travel on Tuesday to areas hit by Debby, which made landfall in the Big Bend as a Category 1 hurricane at 7 a.m. but has since been downgraded to a tropical storm.

The state needs to assess the damage to ask the federal government for a major disaster declaration, which could bring aid for debris removal, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, during a press conference Monday afternoon. The emergency declaration President Biden approved yesterday is limited to evacuation and shelters.

The state will begin distributing food and water in Jefferson, Dixie, and Taylor counties tomorrow, DeSantis said.

“So, frequently when these things happen you go down and you go on a tour to inspect the damage, and the good thing is that there’s not really a place where you would do a big tour of the damage compared to what we saw with Idalia and certainly what we saw with Hurricane Ian,” the governor said. “There’s still risks. There’s risk from a lot of water.”

At least four people have died since the rainfall from Debby started creating hazardous conditions on the roads on Sunday. Three people died after losing control of their vehicles and one teenager died after a tree fell on his house, the governor said.

Approximately 250,000 people in the state had no power as of the press conference at 3:30 p.m. and linemen had restored electricity to 450,000 people.

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Hurricane Debby made landfall at around 7 a.m. Monday near Steinhatchee in Taylor County with 80 mile-per-hour sustained winds and will continue moving throughout North Florida and into Georgia, according to the National Weather Service.

The hurricane, which is following a path similar to Hurricane Idalia’s last year, is bringing flooding from Sarasota to northern Florida. Around 143,000 people lacked power as of 7:30 a.m., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference Monday in the state’s Emergency Operations Center. In Tallahassee, crews restored power to 7,000 people but there remained 3,000 without electricity, according to city officials.

Poweroutage.us put the number higher, at 2,67,227.

“But if you look at the power outage numbers, this is incredibly modest compared to what we’ve dealt with in past storms,” DeSantis said.

But he warned that flooding will continue to cause hazards even days after the Debby passes from the state.

“We have had some traffic mishaps over the last 12 hours and, when you have flood situations, the number one way where we will see fatalities is by people being out on the roads and hydroplaning or having other problems, so do not go walk or drive into flooded roadways,” the governor said.

Coastal counties of the Big Bend could see storm surges of between 7 to 10 feet, according to the National Weather Service. Eleven counties were under storm surge warnings and watches along the Gulf Coast. Forecasters expect rainfall between 8 and 11 inches of rainfall in Tallahassee.

Kevin Guthrie, Florida Division of Emergency Management director, said cleanup efforts have started in Taylor and Dixie counties. The governor said 17,000 electric line workers will help restore electricity.

“The nice thing is this a Cat 1 hurricane. Again, it’s not going to be as widespread as we saw in Hurricane Idalia and Hurricane Ian but, nevertheless, we will have those power outages,” Guthrie said. “Please do everything you can to stay safe and comfortable where you’re at because first responders need to be able to reach you and get to other people during the time of storm.”

So far, forecasters had issued 35 tornado warnings, but more were possible, Guthrie said.

DeSantis said resources will be moved to Sarasota because of the amount of rainfall the area has gotten since Sunday.