Tropical Storm Debby expected to become a hurricane as it nears Florida

Tropical Storm Debby was rapidly gaining strength on Sunday as it barreled through the Gulf of Mexico and headed toward Florida's Big Bend coast, where meteorologists predicted it would make landfall as a hurricane Monday morning.

Debby became the fourth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season on Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said it will likely bring drenching rain and coastal flooding to much of Florida's Gulf Coast beginning Sunday night.

The storm was situated around 155 miles southwest of Tampa and about 205 miles south-southwest of Cedar Key at 8 a.m. EDT Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. It was tracking north-northwest at 13 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph — a jump from 50 mph reported several hours prior by the hurricane center — and higher gusts. Maximum sustained winds would need to reach at least 74 mph in order for the storm to be considered a hurricane.

Debby was forecast to move across the eastern Gulf of Mexico through Sunday night before reaching the Big Bend, a stretch of Florida's Gulf Coast where the panhandle meets the peninsula, early Monday, according to the 8 a.m. advisory. Not long before the advisory was released, a wind gust of 57 mph was recorded at Sand Key in the Florida Keys as tropical-storm-force winds extended up to 140 miles out from the eye of the storm.

Wind and thunderstorms had spread over a wide area including southern Florida, the Florida Keys and the Bahamas by Sunday.

Debby started as a depression that ultimately turned into a tropical storm over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, forecasters said on Saturday. Late that night, Debby was churning through the eastern Gulf of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, according to the hurricane center.

After its expected collision with the coast of Florida's Big Bend region on Monday, the hurricane center said Debby would move slowly across northern Florida and southern Georgia throughout Monday and Tuesday.

A hurricane warning was issued for parts of the Big Bend and the Florida Panhandle, while tropical storm warnings were posted for Florida's West Coast the southern Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. A tropical storm watch extended farther west into the Panhandle. A warning means storm conditions are expected within 36 hours, while a watch means they are possible within 48 hours.

Tropical storms and hurricanes can trigger river flooding and overwhelm drainage systems and the region's canals. Forecasters are warning of 6 to 12 inches of rain, with maximum amounts of 18 inches, across portions of northern Florida through Friday morning. That was expected to cause significant river flooding and could result in considerable flash and urban flooding as well, the hurricane center said.

The rainfall could be historic in surrounding states. Portions of southeast Georgia and South Carolina could see between 10 and 20 inches of rain, with local amounts as high as 30 inches, through Friday morning, the hurricane center said. That could lead to severe and potentially widespread flooding in certain areas.

Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season after Tropical Storm Alberto , Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris, all of which formed in June. When Debby became a tropical storm on Saturday, forecasters were already warning of moderate flooding for some rivers along Florida's West Coast. On Sunday morning, the hurricane center warned that storm surge along a vast stretch of the coast, running for almost 200 miles between Yankeetown and the Ochlockonee River, could reach seven or even 10 feet in some places.

Debby forecast to bring heavy rain to the South

Some of the heaviest rains could actually come next week along the Atlantic Coast from Jacksonville, Florida, through coastal regions of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The storm is expected to slow down after making landfall.

"We could see a stall or a meandering motion around coastal portions of the southeastern United States," National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said in a Saturday briefing. "So that's going to exacerbate not just the rainfall risk, but also the potential for storm surge and some strong winds."

Flat Florida is prone to flooding even on sunny days, and the storm was predicted to bring a surge of 2 to 4 feet along most of the Gulf Coast, including Tampa Bay, with a storm tide of up to 7 feet north of there in the sparsely populated Big Bend region.

Forecasters warned of "a danger of life-threatening storm surge inundation" in a region that includes Hernando Beach, Crystal River, Steinhatchee and Cedar Key. Officials in Citrus and Levy counties ordered a mandatory evacuation of coastal areas, while those in Hernando, Manatee, Pasco and Taylor counties called for voluntary evacuations. Shelters opened in those and some other counties.

Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast estimated 21,000 people live in his county's evacuation zone. Officials rescued 73 people from storm surge flooding during last year's Hurricane Idalia, and Prendergast said by phone that he's hoping not to have a repeat with Debbie.

"After the storm surge does come in, we simply don't have enough first responders in our agency and among the other first responders in the county to go in and rescue everybody that might need to be rescued," he said.

Storm preparations underway

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida's 67 counties, with the National Guard activating 3,000 guard members. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp made his own emergency proclamation on Saturday.

The White House said federal and Florida officials were in touch, and FEMA "pre-positioned" resources including water and food.

In Tampa alone, officials gave out more than 30,000 sandbags to barricade against flooding.

"We've got our stormwater drains cleared out. We've got our generators all checked and full. We're doing everything that we need to be prepared to face a tropical storm," Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said.

In anticipation of the potential heavy rain, Miami Beach also cleaned out its entire storm drain system, including pump stations, CBS Miami reported. Temporary pumps were deployed to low-lying areas and vacuum trucks were also prepared to assist with removing floodwaters.

Christina Lothrop is the general manager at Blue Pelican Marina in Hernando Beach, a barrier island about 50 miles north of St. Petersburg. She said the public ramp was jammed on Saturday with people launching boats.

"Today it's kind of normal, which is kind of weird," Lothrop told The Associated Press by telephone.

Workers at her marina have been preparing since Tuesday, however, securing boats stored on racks, stowing tool boxes and tying everything down.

"Right now what we're doing is mostly tying up boats," Lothrop said.

Before closing Saturday, Lothrop planned to raise computers off the floor and sandbag and tape doors. Idalia pushed about a foot of water into the store.

On Friday, crews pulled floating cranes away from a bridge construction project across Tampa Bay, lashing together 74 barges and 24 floating cranes and anchoring them, project engineer Marianne Brinson told the Tampa Bay Times. Crews also laid down cranes on land on their sides.

Pinellas County paused a $5 million beach renourishment project necessitated in part by erosion from past storms.