From the Mid-Atlantic to New England, the East Coast was being inundated with rain and severe weather from the remnants of Debby on Friday, bringing dangerous flash flooding and the threat of tornadoes.
Flood watches and warnings stretched from the Carolinas to New England, where parts of Vermont, already hit by extensive flooding twice last month, braced for another extreme weather event on Friday.
The only good news appeared to be that the remnants of Debby were heading toward southeastern Canada over the weekend and would be followed by a rare respite for those tired of the summer heat, with below-average temperatures reaching most of the country. in the coming days. meteorologists said.
Debby’s influence remained strong Friday as the National Weather Service warned that rainfall could reach 15 to 25 inches in the Northeast and New England. More than 35 million people from South Carolina to Vermont are under flood watches or warnings Friday.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Acting Governor Tahesha Way declared emergencies on Friday in response to the potential for flooding. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a disaster proclamation Friday that covers 21 affected counties ahead, allowing residents and businesses to quickly access aid, his office said in a statement.
Hochul’s office said flash flooding, severe storms and the possibility of tornadoes prompted her to take action that included sending swift water rescue teams throughout her state.
“It is important that New Yorkers remain vigilant and off the roads,” Hochul said in a statement Friday.
Wary of flash flooding in neighboring New Jersey, Way said in a statement, “If you must drive, slow down and use extra caution.”
Major flooding hit Tioga County, Pennsylvania, and neighboring Steuben County, New York. Marc Rice and Shane Nickerson of the Tioga County Board of Commissioners said in a Facebook video update that medical evacuations were underway.
Steuben County officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for the south side of Addison Village, citing flash flooding upstream on Tuscarora Creek that they said caused some property damage and could be fatal.
In the nearby village of Jasper, 17 miles west of Addison, mandatory evacuations were issued as a precaution Friday after an unspecified number of propane tanks were damaged by floodwaters, according to a statement from the Steuben County government. .
Hershey Park in Pennsylvania announced it would close on Friday “due to severe weather caused by Tropical Storm Debby.”
More than 362,000 utility customers in Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Vermont were without power Friday night, according to the utility tracker PowerOutage.us.
At least 1,451 flights into, within or out of the United States were canceled on Friday because of the weather, according to FlightAware. More than 8,400 flights were delayed.
LaGuardia Airport and New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport have urged travelers to check with their airlines for status updates.
Downed trees caused train delays Friday morning, Amtrak Northeast said in an X post, informing passengers that service between New York’s Penn Station and Stamford, Connecticut, was delayed “due to rail congestion caused by downed trees blocking tracks in the area.”
Friday’s New York Yankees game against the Texas Rangers was rescheduled for Saturday.
Along Debby’s northeast path, many areas will receive 3 to 7 inches of rain, enough to produce “considerable to locally catastrophic flooding impacts by tomorrow morning,” the weather service said. At least seven people are known to have died because of Debby.
Further south, train service between Union Station in Washington, D.C., and Richmond Staples Mill Station in Virginia has also been delayed.
Debby has weakened since reaching the United States and was downgraded to a tropical depression on Thursday after making landfall in South Carolina for a second time. It was downgraded again on Friday to a post-tropical storm with winds of 30 mph. It is moving northeast at 35 mph.
Its main threat remains the enormous amount of rain it can produce. Coastal flood watches and warnings remain in effect in many water-adjacent locations along the Mid-Atlantic coast as strong, persistent winds push water inland to normally dry areas.
Authorities in Berkeley County, South Carolina, said Friday that 2 to 3 feet of fast-moving water was rushing through the streets of Moncks Corner, north of Charleston, prompting several rescues.
The waters were high enough for kayaking in Longs, South Carolina.
A strong cold front extending southwest from the Great Lakes across the Plains is pushing Debby toward the Northeast and also bringing very cold temperatures into August. The Central Plains, Middle Mississippi Valley and northern Minnesota could see record lows on Friday, with some areas 20-25 degrees below daily averages.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
