Maps show where destructive Storm Debby is heading next (2024)

Storm Debby has hit landfall for a second time in South Carolina as it makes its way up the East Coast, spawning damaging tornadoes as well as fresh floods.

More than 130,000 people have been left without power due to tornado activity, as widespread structure damage has been caused.

The National Hurrican Center revealed Debby cameashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, and first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane,temporarily shutting down part of Interstate 95.

The tropical storm is expected to now keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding up through the mid-Atlantic and Northeast by the weekend.

Early Thursday morning, the storm hadmaximum sustained winds of 45 mph in Miami with its centerabout 90 miles north of Charleston, South Carolina.

As it made its way to North Carolina, there there were even reports of emergency responders in Wilson County searching for a man possibly trapped inside, according to local news outlet ABC11.

Meanwhile, three tornado warnings have been issued east of Raleigh, NC, as well as in Dortches and Rocky Mount.

Debby wasn't done flooding parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina, and an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain is possible as the storm moves north, raising concerns of flash floods in mountainous areas of West Virginia.

At least three tornadoes were reported overnight in North Carolina, including one around 3 a.m. that damaged at least four houses, a church and a school in Wilson County east of Raleigh, county officials said. No injuries were immediately reported.

Standing water a few feet deep covered parts of the tiny town of Bladenboro, where deputies posted photos of a patrol car damaged by a tree and washed out roads.

In Huger, northeast of Charleston, South Carolina, Gene Taylor waited for the water to drain from his house along French Quarter Creek as high tide passed.

He had learned the hard way to begin moving his belongings up or out of his home last week as Debby approached. Taylor figures this is the fourth time he has had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.

"We got caught with our pants down in 2015. We waited, didn´t think the water was going to come up as quick. But it did, and it caught us. We couldn´t even get the vehicles out," Taylor said.

At least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Georgia's Bulloch County, but no deaths had been reported, authorities said. More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.

"We´ve been faced with a lot of things we´ve never been faced with before," Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said.

"I´m 78-plus years old and have never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It´s amazing what has happened, and amazing what is going to continue to happen until all these waters get out of here."

The neighbors on Tappan Zee Drive in suburban Pooler, west of Savannah, took Debby's drenching with a painful dose of déjà vu. In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew overflowed a nearby canal and flooded several of the same homes.

Located roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) inland from the Atlantic Ocean, with no creeks or rivers nearby, the neighborhood doesn´t seem like a high-risk location for tropical flooding. But residents say drainage problems have plagued their street for well over a decade, despite local government efforts to fix them.

Debby also dumped rain on communities all the way up to the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey. Moisture from the tropical storm strengthened another system Tuesday evening, which caused strong thunderstorms, according to weather service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.

"We had a multi-round period of showers and thunderstorms that kind of scooted from Michigan eastward," Kleebauer said.

As much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours, and New York City officials warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some neighborhoods to tell people in basem*nt apartments to be ready to flee. Multiple water rescues were reported in and near the city.

About 270,000 customers remained without power in Ohio as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, following severe storms including two confirmed tornadoes.

All that water has to drain out to sea. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said his state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play, after more than 60 homes were damaged but roads and water systems were without significant problems.

The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as they flow to the Atlantic Ocean.

A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations without declaring an emergency.

At least six people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.