The Latest: Tropical Storm Debby churns across the US Southeast

Tropical Storm Debby has moved into the U.S. Southeast with the threat of extended torrential downpours and flooding after raking Florida with heavy rain and high winds.

The storm killed at least five people Monday and has caused flooding in historic Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, and elsewhere on the Southeast's Atlantic Coast. Savannah Mayor Van Johnson told residents to expect a rough day Tuesday.

Debby made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane. The categorization is based on wind speeds, but meteorologists say it's the storm's rainfall capacity that makes it extremely dangerous.

Here's the Latest:

The center of Tropical Storm Debby is about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Savannah, Georgia, and moving east-northeast at near 5 mph (8 kph), the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday in its 2 p.m. advisory.

Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph) with higher gusts. Tropical-storm force winds of at least 39 mph (63 kph) extend outward over extend outward up to 205 miles (335 km) east of the center.

Debby’s center is expected to move off the Georgia coast Tuesday and then move back inland over South Carolina on Thursday, the hurricane center said. The main rainfall threat includes the eastern half of South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina through Friday.

Flooding from Debby wasn’t limited to coastal areas.

Water started spilling over the top of a small dam near Walterboro, South Carolina, but it didn’t crumble, Colleton County Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief David Greene said in a video briefing. An apartment complex in Walterboro did flood and a number of roads in the county were blocked either by standing water or fallen trees, but no major damage was reported, Greene said.

Colleton County fire officials sent out a warning Tuesday about the McGrady Dam near Walterboro, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Charleston. They said about 50 people might be affected if the dam was breached.

To the south, the neighboring community of Green Pond reported 14 inches (36 centimeters) of rain since Debby first started to hit the area Monday, Greene said.

South Carolina residents aren't sure how strong Debby's ultimate punch will be where they are, but they're preparing for any scenario.

“There’s a lot of question marks,” said David E. Lally, 83, who lives near the coast and stocked up with groceries and a 12-pack of Miller Lite. He worries Debby's forecast heavy rains could cause problems on the Waccamaw River and other streams.

Crooked Hammock Brewery in North Myrtle Beach decided to close Tuesday afternoon as rain bore down and the region faced threats of flash flooding, tornadoes and storm surge.

“No one can pinpoint exactly what areas the flooding will occur in, and we’re unsure of how bad it will be. We just know it is inevitable and want to keep our team as safe as possible,” marketing coordinator Georgena Dimitriadis wrote in an email.

Officials warned Tuesday that all the water expected to fall on Georgia and South Carolina from Tropical Storm Debby could cause serious flooding downstream in Florida for days or weeks to come.

“We are going to see more flooding in northern Florida,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a briefing in Steinhatchee, near where Debby made initial landfall as a Category 1 hurricane.

“You’re going to see the tributaries rise. That’s just inevitable. How much? We’ll see,” he said. “It may be that it’s not flooded today and it could be flooded tomorrow.”

The National Weather Service warned that parts of the St. Marys, Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers are projected to reach major flood stage west of Jacksonville and north of Gainesville, with the potential to inundate roads and houses.

Parts of southwest Florida already flooded, leading to 500 rescues from homes in Sarasota County.

Officials said it may be two weeks before they can fully assess damage in parts of north-central Florida as they wait for rivers to crest.

In Savannah, Georgia, the steady, soaking rainfall eased, at least temporarily, by late morning Tuesday as the storm’s center reached the state's coast.

Significant flooding was reported in at least one neighborhood. A video posted to Facebook by Mayor Van Johnson showed people walking in water nearly to their waists in the Tremont Park section.

“The water is serious,” Johnson said in the video. “For those who felt this was just a rainstorm, that’s not it.”

Elsewhere, streets that had flooded during downpours Monday evening were mostly clear. With many offices and businesses closed, residents jogged and walked their dogs.

The forecast called for more rain, some of it heavy, in Savannah in the coming days as Debby crawls or even stalls offshore. The National Weather Service reported 6.68 inches (16.96 centimeters) of rainfall in Savannah on Monday. That’s more rain than Georgia’s oldest city saw in all of August last year.

The center of Tropical Storm Debby is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of Savannah, Georgia, and moving east-northeast at near 6 mph (9 kph), the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday in its 11 a.m. advisory.

Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph) with higher gusts. Tropical-storm force winds of at least 39 mph (63 kph) extend outward over 200 miles (330 kilometers) from the center.

Debby's center is expected to move off the Georgia coast later Tuesday, then move back inland over South Carolina on Thursday, the center said.

The peninsula that makes up much of the downtown and older, historic parts of Charleston, South Carolina, will remain closed Tuesday as Tropical Storm Debby spins nearby, Mayor William Cogswell said.

Police have barricaded all eight roads into the peninsula and let only essential workers and emergency personnel in or out since 11 p.m. Monday. The barriers will remain in place until at least Wednesday morning.

“We especially don’t need any yahoos driving through the water and causing damage to properties,” Cogswell said.

Attention now turns to Debby moving offshore, perhaps strengthening and sending stronger winds onshore, causing power outages and some tidal flooding Wednesday into Thursday.

At a news conference Tuesday at Georgia’s emergency management center in Atlanta, Gov. Brian Kemp urged residents in the storm area to remain vigilant and stay off roads. “Do not let this storm lull you to sleep,” he said.

Kemp said that in the best case, the storm area will get another 4 or 5 inches (10 or 12.7 centimeters) of rain. But he warned that another model showed the storm stalling and moving back into Georgia, dumping as much as 9 additional inches (22.9 centimeters) of rain.

Still, State Meteorologist Will Lanxton said the possibility of catastrophic flooding is much less likely.

South Carolina is bracing for days of rain through Thursday from Tropical Storm Debby. It already spawned tornadoes and caused flooding Tuesday in areas along the state's coast.

The tornadoes toppled trees and damaged a few homes on Kiawah Island and Edisto Island between Savannah and Charleston. A Walmart, an Applebee’s and other businesses were damaged, and several vehicles flipped in Moncks Corner, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) inland from Charleston.

Radar estimated more than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain fell between Hilton Head Island and Charleston overnight. There were local reports of flooding, including parts of downtown Charleston that often flood, but no widespread damage.

Some forecasts indicate Debby could bring 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 centimeters) of rain to rural areas of North and South Carolina that were devastated by floods in Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018. Each caused over $1 billion in damage and killed dozens.

More than 155,000 customers lacked power in Florida and Georgia on Tuesday morning, down from a peak of more than 350,000, according to PowerOutage.us and Georgia Electric Membership Corp.

President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for much of Georgia, making disaster assistance available for the effects of Hurricane Debby, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Tuesday.

The declaration authorizes FEMA to mobilize equipment and other resources to protect lives, property and public health, including coordinating evacuations and shelters.

Much of South Carolina's historic Charleston peninsula lies on low marshland filled in over the years by dirt and debris.

With the Ashley and Cooper rivers on either side, the city of about 155,000 is hard to drain, especially during high tide or when the winds blow onshore from the Atlantic Ocean. Rising sea levels have made it harder, with water covering streets more than twice a month now — even without a storm like Debby looming.

The rivers and deep port have been critical to Charleston since its founding in 1670.

The city's 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 by flooding.

Debby has weakened over land because tropical cyclones derive their energy from warm water, but part of the circulation was still interacting Tuesday with water over the Atlantic, said Richard Pasch, a senior hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

The storm’s center is expected to move out over the water off the Georgia and South Carolina coast, then move back inland, so it could restrengthen, but it’s not clear how much, he said.

Tropical storm warnings were posted from northeastern Florida up into North Carolina, and very heavy rain is expected, leading to catastrophic flooding across parts of southeastern Georgia, the eastern half of South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina through Friday, he said.

“Tropical cyclones always produce heavy rain, but normally as they’re moving, you know, it doesn’t accumulate that much in one place,” he said. “But when they move very slowly, that’s the worst situation.”

Debby's center was over southeastern 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’s coast later Tuesday. Some strengthening is forecast on Wednesday and Thursday as Debby drifts offshore, before it moves inland over South Carolina on Thursday.

The emergency plan in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, 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 by flooding.

About 500 people were rescued from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, a beach city popular with tourists, the Sarasota Police Department said Monday in a social media post.

“Essentially we’ve had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have,” Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun said in a social media update.

Just north of Sarasota, officials in Manatee County said in a news release that 186 people were rescued from flood waters.

“We are facing an unprecedented weather event with Hurricane Debby,” said Jodie Fiske, Manatee County's public safety director. “The safety of our residents is our top priority, and we are doing everything in our power to respond effectively to this crisis.”