beautiful picturesHurricane Debby has made landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast, raising concerns about rising water levels and catastrophic flooding.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said the weather system strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane late Sunday and made landfall near Steinhatchee Monday morning.
The storm is currently forecast to move slowly across the state, bringing winds of 80 mph and up to 30 inches (76 cm) of rain as it moves north.
The fourth hurricane of the season is also expected to hit Georgia and South Carolina in the coming days.
Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the hurricane center, said the slow-moving nature of the storm could cause record rainfall.
“You are talking about catastrophic flooding.”
The storm’s powerful winds have affected Floridians — about 204,000 homes and businesses are without power statewide, according to PowerOutage.com.
Hurricane Debby is expected to slow significantly on its journey across Florida as the upper atmosphere’s wind flow essentially collapses.
This will cause the storm to drift slowly across the Atlantic as a tropical storm, then move across the ocean, bringing intermittent showers to southeastern Georgia and the Carolinas on Tuesday and Wednesday, before moving inland across South Carolina on Thursday.
Record rainfall is likely to cause catastrophic flooding in many areas, exacerbated by storm surges along the coast that will trap water in river systems, unable to drain out to sea.
Before the storm hit, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida’s 67 counties. He also said that utility crews from within and outside the state were ready to help restore power after the storm.
DeSantis isn’t the only one preparing, people across the state are bracing for the worst.
Spyridon Aibejeris told USA Today that repairs to his Keaton Beach home were completed just two weeks ago after Hurricane Idalia, a Category 3 storm that made landfall last summer.
“Oh my gosh, I’ve done this so many times,” Mr. Aibejeris said. “You just go back and see what you have to do.”
“I hope I never have to go back to that,” he added.
beautiful picturesForecasters predict this year’s hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, will be a busy one.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued its most dramatic warning yet for the current season, with forecasters saying there could be as many as 25 named storms in 2024.
NOAA says eight to 13 of those storms could develop into hurricanes.
Hurricane Betty is the fourth named storm this year following Tropical Storm Alberto, Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Chris.
It is thought that climate change could make slow-moving storms like this more likely.
As the world warms unevenly, this will cause changes in atmospheric circulation, driving storms around the planet.
