As Debby soaks South Carolina, heavy rains from the tropical storm are also expected to cause flooding in parts of the mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast by Saturday morning. Meanwhile, residents as far away as the Great Lakes and New Jersey also experienced heavy rains linked to the slow-moving tropical storm.
Here are the latest:
Authorities say the North Carolina tornado death brings the death toll from Tropical Storm Debby to seven.
The latest death was reported Thursday in Lucama, North Carolina.
Wilson County spokesman Stephen Mann confirmed the death via email. No additional details were immediately provided.
At least six other people died as a result of the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or falling trees. The sixth death involved a man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.
Interstate 95 in North Carolina has reopened after flooding closed part of a major highway along the East Coast on Thursday morning.
A portion of the highway around Fayetteville, North Carolina, was closed for about three hours after water hit the highway, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said.
About 13 inches of rain fell in the area overnight.
An average of more than 50,000 vehicles per day pass along the stretch of I-95, the highway that connects Florida to Maine.
A falling tree shattered the windshields of two police patrol cars overnight as they inspected flooded roads in a North Carolina county.
Bladen County officials posted images overnight of flooded and cracked roads in the county and downed trees.
The sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post that a tree fell on a patrol car, shattering the windshield. The two deputies inside were not injured.
The county also issued a voluntary evacuation order for Bladenboro residents, with a shelter open at West Bladen High School.
Elsewhere in the state, a portion of Interstate 95 around Fayetteville, North Carolina, was closed after water flooded the highway, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said. Troopers gave no indication of when the interstate might reopen.
In southeastern North Carolina, near the state line, up to three feet of standing water was reported in Bladenboro.
This led authorities to close access roads into the city.
“Bladenboro has been blocked off from the rest of the county,” the National Weather Service said in a post on X. The weather service said a flash flood emergency has been declared for the county.
Elsewhere in the state, a portion of Interstate 95 around Fayetteville, North Carolina, was closed after water flooded the highway, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said. Troopers gave no indication of when the interstate might reopen.
Flooding closed a major highway along the East Coast on Thursday morning. A portion of Interstate 95 around Fayetteville, North Carolina, was closed after water flooded the highway, the North Carolina Highway Patrol said. Troopers gave no indication of when the interstate might reopen.
At least 10 inches of rain has fallen in the area since Debby began crawling toward the area.
An average of more than 50,000 vehicles per day pass along the stretch of I-95, the highway that connects Florida to Maine.
An apparent tornado emerged as Debby’s outer bands blew across North Carolina, damaging at least four homes, a church and a school in Wilson County, east of Raleigh, county officials said.
The county said in a statement that the tornado touched down around 3 a.m. Thursday. No injuries were immediately reported.
The storm could bring more tornadoes throughout the day to parts of North Carolina and Virginia, forecasters said.
Debby influenced storms Wednesday from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. And the National Weather Service office in Charleston said survey teams previously confirmed four tornadoes linked to Debby.
Tropical Storm Debby is heading toward the East Coast as it makes landfall for the second time. The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore Thursday morning near Bulls Bay, South Carolina.
The storm is expected to continue moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast through the weekend. Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane Monday morning on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
As Debby drenches South Carolina, the tropical storm’s heavy rains are also expected to cause flooding in parts of the mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast by Saturday morning.
In Bulloch County, northwest of Savannah, Ga., at least four dams were breached by floodwaters, but so far no deaths have been reported, authorities said at a news conference Wednesday.
More than 75 people have been rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, county emergency management director. About 100 roads were closed, he said.
“We faced a lot of things that we had never faced before,” said Commission Chairman Roy Thompson. “I’m over 78 years old and I’ve never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It’s incredible what happened and incredible what will continue to happen until all these waters leave here.”
Gene Taylor was waiting for a few inches of water to drain from his home as high tide passed Wednesday afternoon at his home along French Quarter Creek, not far from the Cooper River in Huger and about 15 miles northeast of Charleston. .
This is the fourth time his home has flooded in the last nine years, and this time he heeded the warnings, moving things upstairs or outside.
“To save everything, we learn from the past that it is better to be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we did it,” Taylor said. “We were caught with our pants down in 2015. We waited, we didn’t think the water would rise so quickly. But it happened and it caught us. We couldn’t even get the vehicles out.”
A few doors down, Charles Granger was cleaning up after about 8 inches of water entered his home — a common annoyance now.
“Three centimeters messes up your whole life,” Grainger said. “You don’t get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It’s part of living on the creek.”
Water levels are rising as rain from Tropical Storm Debby drains into the sea. The National Weather Service in Charleston tweeted that the Canoochee River in Claxton, Georgia, approached 18 feet, surpassing the previous flood record set in 1925.
No deaths or injuries were reported in Tropical Story Debby in South Carolina, but Gov. Henry McMaster said Wednesday that the state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play.
“We have been lucky so far. Things weren’t as bad as they could have been,” McMaster said of the heavy rains Monday and Tuesday that caused flooding that damaged more than 60 homes but did not cause significant problems to roads or water systems.
Act 2 takes place overnight until Thursday, when Debby returns to dry land and the heavy rain returns, this time to the northern part of the coast and inland. Another 10 to 20 centimeters of rain could fall, said John Quagliariello, a meteorologist with Colombia’s National Meteorological Service.
“It may not be as catastrophic as what we were saying, but we still think that as these rain bans develop, they could stay in the same area for long periods of time, producing a lot of rain and a lot of flooding,” Quagliariello said.
The final act could come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers that flow into the Atlantic Ocean.
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