Tropical Storm Debby causes extensive flooding throughout the Southeast

Tuesday saw Tropical Storm Debby continue its days-long creep across the Southeast, soaking coastal towns from northern Florida to the Carolinas with so much rain that streets were submerged. Officials ordered evacuations, carried out rescue operations, and issued warnings about a dam that was close to failing.

Numerous routes in the severely affected counties of Manatee and Sarasota were closed as of Tuesday afternoon. Numerous closures were concentrated along rivers and creeks that had been overflowed by precipitation.

Forecasters believe that while the storm unleashes historic and possibly "catastrophic" floods throughout the region, things will only get worse this week.

At least five people were killed on Monday by the storm's record-breaking rain, four of them were in Florida (two of them were children) and one in Georgia. The governors of both states, along with South Carolina, were authorized to declare states of emergency by President Biden.

The National Hurricane Center predicted that Debby would move later on Tuesday, away from the coast of Georgia. Debby's center was located about 10 miles southeast of Savannah, Georgia, and 80 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina, as of Tuesday at 2 p.m. EDT. The hurricane center said that Debby was moving 5 mph east-northeast with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph.

"Debby is expected to produce potentially historic rainfall totals of 10 to 20 inches, with maximum amounts of 25 inches, bringing areas of catastrophic flooding across portions of southeast Georgia, the eastern half of South Carolina, and southeast North Carolina through Friday," the Miami-based hurricane center said. "From northern North Carolina through portions of the Mid-Atlantic States, 4 to 8 inches of rainfall, with local amounts to 12 inches, are expected through Sunday morning. This rainfall will likely result in areas of considerable flash and urban flooding, with river flooding possible."

Local and state officials reported severe flooding from North Florida to the Carolinas as Debby dropped up to one foot of rain in some regions. Throughout the several-day flood, some cities—including Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia—instituted curfews, issued evacuation orders, shuttered office buildings, opened shelters, and advised citizens to stay inside.

As a Category 1 hurricane, Debby made landfall on Monday off the Florida Big Bend. As it traveled across the northeastern part of the peninsula, it turned streets into rivers, brought on extensive power outages, and was responsible for at least five fatalities.