Debby, the Florida Keystone Stream, and Tropical Storm Less Than 10 inches of Rain: Forecasting for Florida Monday morning with a Category 3 Storm
Tropical Storm Debby will hit the state of Florida on Monday morning as a Category 3 storm with winds of at least 115 mph.
“It’s going to be far beyond the center of the storm. So just prepare for that,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said of the rainfall forecast during a Sunday morning press conference. You are still going to have major impacts from the storm even if you are not in the eye of it.
Brennan said the exact track the storm would take over land was still unclear, but forecasters were “very confident we’re going to have a slow-moving system that’s going to result in multiple days of very, very heavy rainfall.”
Florida could receive six to 12 inches of rain, with isolated amounts of as high as 18 inches, and coastal areas in Georgia and South Carolina could be hit even harder. Brennan said communities could see between 10 and 20 inches of widespread rain, with isolated totals as high as 30 inches in some areas.
Warmer ocean temperatures and higher sea levels driven by climate change are making hurricanes and tropical storms more intense, causing heavier rainfall and more extreme flooding.
State of Emergency Determination for the St. Pete Marina, Florida, a state of emergency declaration before Mayor Joe Biden announces the Florida Emergency Management Agency
The National Guard has activated 3,000 members, after Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties. Kemp made a state of emergency on Saturday.
On Saturday, President Joe Biden approved Florida’s request for a federal emergency declaration ahead of Debby’s arrival, which authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to help coordinate disaster relief efforts.
There was a storm surge watch in effect for some parts of the Georgia and South Carolina coastline.
The same area in Florida faced another major storm last year, when Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 storm in the waning days of August.
“We’ve got our stormwater drains cleared out. All of the generators are checked and full. “We’re doing everything we can to be prepared for a storm,” the mayor said.
There is a marina located on a barrier island which is 50 miles north of St. Pete. Christina lothrop is the general manager. She said that people were launching boats on the public ramp.
Debby moved through Gulf toward Florida with hurricane warnings during a tropical storm moving south of Tahiti on Saturday, July 17. Heavy rains accompanied by 14 floats across the Tampa Bay
Before closing Saturday, Lothrop planned to raise computers off the floor and sandbag and tape doors. Idalia pushed a foot of water into the store.
Betti Silverman said on Saturday she wasn’t sure if her family would leave her home in Crystal River. The family was packing to move into her waterfront home when it flooded, ruining boxes and furniture. She said the forecast wasn’t as severe for Debby.
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. The cranes were laid down on land.
For some, the name Debby summons bad memories of a 2012 tropical storm of the same name that caused $250 million in losses and eight deaths, including seven in the Sunshine State. That storm dumped torrential rains, including an astronomical 29 inches (730 mm) south of Tallahassee.
Hurricane Carlotta was moving west in the Pacific Ocean after moving more than 750 miles off Mexico. Carlotta began losing strength Saturday and is likely to dissipate into a remnant of thunderstorms.
Farther west, Tropical Storm Daniel formed in the Pacific. It was more than 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) from the southern tip of Baja California and was also expected to dissipate without striking land.
Source: Tropical Storm Debby moving through Gulf toward Florida with hurricane warnings
The impact of Hurricane Idalia on the Southwest Florida coast and the Florida Keys, with Tropical Storms in effect for the Bahamas and the Citrus County
“After the storm surge comes in, we simply don’t have enough first responders in our agency and among the other first responders in the county to go into and rescue everybody that could need to be saved,” he said.
Citrus County Sheriff Mike Prendergast estimated 21,000 people live in his county’s evacuation zone. 73 people were rescued from flooding during Hurricane Idalia. Prendergast said by phone that he hopes not to have a repeat with Debbie.
“We could see a stall around parts of the southeastern United States, so we’ve got to keep an eye out for that,” Michael Brennan, Director of the National Hurricane Center said. “So that’s going to exacerbate not just the rainfall risk, but also the potential for storm surge and some strong winds.”
The National Hurricane Center predicted that the system would strengthen as it made its way off of the southwest Florida coast. Intensification was expected to proceed more quickly later on Sunday.
Wind and thunderstorms have spread over a broad area including southern Florida, the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. A hurricane warning was in effect for sections of the state’s coast with tropical storm warnings for the Florida Keys.