Tropical Storm Debby Drenches Mid-Atlantic As It Heads Toward The Northeast

Tropical Storm Debby is p oised to make a second landfall on the East Coast, threatening coastal Georgia and the Carolinas with torrential rain and potentially catastrophic flooding. The storm, which has already drenched Florida and South Carolina with over a foot of rain, is expected to strengthen before moving ashore along the central coast of South Carolina on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Rainfall amounts could exceed 25 inches, warns the National Hurricane Center.

Fox Weather reports that Debby is drawing energy from warm Atlantic waters and is expected to strengthen slightly over the next 24 hours. The storm is predicted to pack strong winds, with gusts of 40-65 mph, along the upper South Carolina coast and up toward Cape Fear, North Carolina.

States of emergency have been declared in South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina in anticipation of Debby. President Joe Biden has approved emergency declarations for these states, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to provide federal assistance to save lives, protect property, and ensure public health and safety.

After making landfall along Florida's Big Bend on Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane, Debby dumped more than 20 inches of rain, sent feet of storm surge flooding into Southwest Florida, and knocked out power to more than 300,000 customers in the Sunshine State at the height of the storm.

The storm's impact has been felt beyond the Southeast. Early storms spawned by Debby's tropical moisture interacting with a cold front have already soaked New York City, Philadelphia, and Newark with several inches of rain, causing flooding in low-lying areas. Later in the week and into the weekend, Debby is expected to gain speed and push through the Northeast , dumping more rain across the region and causing "considerable flash and urban flooding as well as river flooding," according to the weather service.