Debby updates: Flash flooding, tornadoes target DC, Mid-Atlantic, Northeast

Debby will exit the Northeast on Saturday.

ByBill Hutchinson, Kevin Shalvey, Emily Shapiro, and Meredith Deliso
Last Updated: August 9, 2024, 5:10 PM EDT

Debby, which weakened from a tropical storm to a tropical depression Thursday afternoon, is slamming the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast with heavy rain on Friday.

Debby made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday and crawled up the East Coast all week.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the news is developing.
Aug 9, 3:30 pm

Latest forecast

Debby, now a post-tropical cyclone, is slamming the Northeast with heavy rain.

A life-threatening flash flood emergency was issued in northern Pennsylvania and southern New York due to fast-moving floodwaters.

A flood watch remains in effect for parts of nine states from South Carolina to New Hampshire due to the intense rain.

Showers with some downpours will continue across the Northeast through the evening. Tornadoes are also possible.

Debby will be gone by Saturday morning.

Aug 05, 2024, 3:58 PM EDT

More than 1,700 flights canceled

More than 1,700 flights have been canceled within, into or out of the U.S. on Monday, and that number is expected to continue to climb.

American Airlines is seeing the biggest impacts because of its hubs in Miami and Charlotte, North Carolina.

A small residential lake just east of Tyrone Park on 18th Avenue N on Aug. 5, 2024 in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Max Chesnes/Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA Press Wire via Shutterstock

American Airlines said it canceled operations at airports in Gainesville, Sarasota and Tallahassee until noon on Monday.

Sunday was one of the worst air travel days of the year with more than 2,400 cancellations.

Aug 05, 2024, 1:30 PM EDT

Flash flood emergency issued in Suwannee County, Florida

A flash flood emergency has been issued in Suwannee County in north Florida, northwest of Gainesville, where officials are reporting that water is entering structures.

Ten to 15 inches of rain has inundated the county so far and another 3 to 6 inches of rain is expected.

-ABC News’ Dan Peck

Aug 05, 2024, 12:47 PM EDT

Biden briefed on storm

President Joe Biden was briefed Monday morning on the administration’s ongoing response to Debby, according to a White House official.

On Saturday, Biden approved Florida’s request for an emergency declaration and deployed rescue personnel, meals and water, the official said.

The Biden administration is in touch with officials from Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has deployed staff to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina as the storm moves north, the official said.

High winds, rain and storm surge from Hurricane Debby inundate a neighborhood on Aug. 5, 2024, in Cedar Key, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez

Aug 05, 2024, 11:41 AM EDT

Debby weakens to tropical storm

Debby, which made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane Monday morning, weakened to a tropical storm just before 11 a.m. ET.

In an aerial view, a Florida National Guard vehicle drives through a flooded street from the rain and storm surge caused by Hurricane Debby on Aug. 5, 2024, in Cedar Key, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Debby is barreling north with winds of 70 mph.

The storm is forecast to cause major flooding across the Southeast this week.

Rain totals have reached 19 inches in Florida so far.

Wind and rain kicked up by Hurricane Debby blow through a hotel parking lot on Aug. 5, 2024 in Chiefland, Fla.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In South Carolina, the rain total could topple the state’s all-time precipitation record for a tropical cyclone: 23.63 inches from Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Some of the heavy rain will make its way into Virginia by Friday and possibly to the coastal Mid-Atlantic by the weekend.

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