By Jeff Martin and Christopher O鈥橫eara
Associated Press
HORSESHOE BEACH, Fla. 鈥� Tropical Storm Debby moved menacingly into some of America鈥檚 most historic Southern cities and was expected to bring prolonged downpours and flooding throughout the day Tuesday and prompting the rescue of hundreds from flooded homes.
Record-setting rain from the storm that killed at least five people was , with up to 30 inches (76 centimeters) possible in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm鈥檚 center was over southeast Georgia early Tuesday with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph (75 kph) and it was moving northeast near 7 mph (11 kph). The center is expected to move off Georgia鈥檚 coast later Tuesday. Some strengthening is forecast Wednesday and Thursday as Debby drifts offshore before it moves inland Thursday over South Carolina.
鈥淗unker down,鈥� Van Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, told residents on a livestream on social media Monday night. 鈥淓xpect that it will be a rough day鈥� on Tuesday, he said.
More than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain had fallen through Monday at Savannah鈥檚 airport, but more rain fell overnight and was continuing Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported.
Flash flood warnings were issued in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Both Savannah and Charleston announced curfews Monday night into Tuesday.
In South Carolina, Charleston County Interim Emergency Director Ben Webster called a 鈥渉istoric and potentially unprecedented event鈥� three times in a 90-second briefing Monday.
In addition to the curfew, the city of Charleston鈥檚 emergency plan includes sandbags for residents, opening parking garages so residents can park their cars above floodwaters and an online mapping system that shows which roads are closed due to flooding.
In Edisto Beach, South Carolina, a tornado touched down Monday night, damaging trees, and homes and taking down power lines, the Colleton County Sheriff鈥檚 Office said on social media. No injuries were immediately reported, officials said.
The weather service continued issuing tornado warnings well into Monday night for parts of the state including Hilton Head Island.
At the edge of Hilton Head Island, musician Nick Poulin wasn鈥檛 overly concerned about Debby since his equipment was inside and he made sure that his car wasn鈥檛 parked under trees so it won鈥檛 be hit by falling branches.
鈥淚鈥檓 born and raised here, so we鈥檝e had plenty of storms,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 usually not as bad as people hype it up to be.鈥�
Debby made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Florida early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane. It has weakened to and is moving slowly, drenching and bringing areas of catastrophic flooding across portions of eastern Georgia, the coastal plain of South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Wednesday.
About 500 people were rescued Monday from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, a beach city popular with tourists, the Sarasota Police Department said in a social media post. Just north of Sarasota, officials in Manatee County said in a news release that 186 people were rescued from flood waters.
鈥淓ssentially we鈥檝e had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have,鈥� Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun said on social media.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that the state could continue to see threats as waterways north of the border fill up and flow south.
鈥淚t is a very saturating, wet storm,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen they crest and the water that鈥檚 going to come down from Georgia, it鈥檚 just something that we鈥檙e going to be on alert for not just throughout today, but for the next week.鈥�
Five people had died due to the storm as of Monday night, including a truck driver on Interstate 75 in the Tampa area after he lost control of his tractor-trailer, which flipped over a concrete wall and dangled over the edge before the cab dropped into the water below. Sheriff鈥檚 office divers located the driver, a 64-year-old man from Mississippi, in the cab 40 feet (12 meters) below the surface, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
A 13-year-old boy died Monday morning after a tree fell on a mobile home southwest of Gainesville, Florida, according to the Levy County Sheriff鈥檚 Office. In Dixie County, just east of where the storm made landfall, a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy died in a car crash on wet roads Sunday night.
In south Georgia, a 19-year-old man died Monday afternoon when a large tree fell onto a porch at a home in Moultrie, .
More than 140,000 customers remained without power in Florida and Georgia on Tuesday morning, down from a peak of more than 350,000, according to and Georgia Electric Membership Corp. Nearly 12,000 more were without power in South Carolina early Tuesday.
More than 1,600 flights were also canceled nationwide on Monday and more than 550 flights were canceled early Tuesday, many of them to and from Florida airports, according to .
President Joe Biden approved a request from South Carolina鈥檚 governor for an emergency declaration, following his earlier approval of a similar request from Florida. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he has asked Biden to issue a preemptive federal emergency declaration to speed the flow of federal aid to the state.
Vice President postponed a campaign stop scheduled for Thursday in Savannah.
North Carolina is also under a state of emergency after Gov. Roy Cooper declared it in an signed Monday. Several areas along the state鈥檚 coastline are , such as Wilmington and the Outer Banks, according to the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program.
North Carolina and South Carolina have dealt with three catastrophic floods from tropical systems in the past nine years, all causing more than $1 billion in damage.
In 2015, rainfall fed by moisture as Hurricane Joaquin passed well offshore caused massive flooding. In 2016, flooding from caused 24 deaths in the two states and rivers set record crests. Those records were broken in 2018 with , which set rainfall records in both Carolinas, flooded many of the same places and was responsible for 42 deaths in North Carolina and nine in South Carolina.