Tropical Storm Debby is expected to whip up rainfall and high search as it churns over Gulf Coast lakes on Sunday, crawling northeast along Florida’s coastline before making landfall as a “life-threatening” storms on Monday, experts said.
People are being urged to heed evacuation orders as “it’s become clearer and clearer that Debby may be a hurricane before it makes landfall,” according to Jamie Rhome, assistant director of the National Hurricane Center.
Debby became a named tropical storm late on Saturday after days as a broad, sloppy system in the Atlantic, leaving Cuba’s northern coast on Saturday evening, when it was about 100 miles ( 160 km ) west-southwest of Key West, Florida, the NHC said.
It was crawling at 14 mph ( 23 kph ) into the Gulf Coast about 260 miles ( 390 km ) south-southwest of Tampa, where its winds were expected to accelerate from 45 mph up to 70 mph or more as it gains strength and becomes a hurricane by Sunday night.
” This is a lethal situation”, the NHC said in a statement. Rhome said there were” a host of risks, not just the storm”.
He warned of storm surges up to seven feet ( two meters ) along Florida’s Big Bend area where it is expected to hit just southeast of the peninsular state’s Panhandle.
” Today, I stand at six legs tall”, Rhome said. ” So that’s over my head”, he said. Heavy rains of 10 inches ( 25 cm ) with spots of 15 inches of rain could be expected, more if the storm slows down or stalls over land, he said.
After land, Debby is expected to lose some strength, but it will experience heavy weather as it travels from Central Florida to the Atlantic shoreline. It is then expected to walk up to Savannah, Georgia, and therefore toward Charleston, South Carolina, earlier in the week.
Bonita Beach is expected to experience north sea surges before reaching Tampa Bay. The surges was cause ocean waves to travel further inland than they normally would, causing damage to buildings and putting people at risk.
On Saturday, required or volunteer evacuation orders were issued for parts of the Gulf Coast regions Pasco Hernando and Citrus.
Extreme southwestern Florida, which was blown up by Hurricane Ian in 2022, is currently under a tropical cyclone notice.
Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered the evacuation of 3, 000 of the state’s cities and counties ahead of the anticipated land, and he has also issued evacuation orders to the government’s cities and counties.
Four to seven major storms will form from 25 named winds during the 2024 season, which is beginning on June 1. That is more than the hurricane Katrina and Rita’s record-breaking 2005 period.
Just one hurricane, Beryl, has formed in the Atlantic so far this year. It was the first Category 5 storm ever to ravage the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and the Caribbean before sprang onto Texas ‘ Gulf Coast as a Category 1 wind with gusts reaching 95 mph.
Debby is anticipated to follow the dangerous Hurricane Ian of 2022, which slammed into Florida and caused billions of dollars in damage along the Gulf Coast.
