Debby spreads torrential rain and tornado threat north as it rapidly accelerates toward the Northeast
By Elizabeth Wolfe, Robert Shackelford and Mary Gilbert, CNN
(CNN) — After causing at least six deaths in the Southeast, Debby weakened to a tropical depression Thursday but remained a dangerous storm as it picked up speed, spreading its torrential rain and tornado threat north.
The center of the system was 45 miles east of Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday afternoon, but its impacts stretched from the Carolinas to southern Pennsylvania and New Jersey as it accelerated toward the Northeast.
A tornado watch was issued for parts of North Carolina to the DC-Baltimore region. Several tornado warnings were hoisted Thursday evening as the system triggered thunderstorms with embedded rotation, including one for an observed tornado near Wilmington, Delaware.
Flood watches and warnings were plastered up and down the Eastern Seaboard as downpours developed over areas already drenched by Debby’s multi-day rains. Flood warnings extended to the US-Canada border, with forecasts calling for several inches of rain in upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire through Saturday.
Debby’s shift to the Northeast comes after its death toll rose to six Thursday when a destructive tornado killed a man in Lucama, North Carolina. The tornado damaged homes and a school in the area, which is around 35 miles southeast of Raleigh.
Since crashing into Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, Debby has dumped more than a foot of rain over parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The deluges have engorged rivers, flooded roadways and trapped people in cars, homes and boats – and potentially dangerous heat is expected across the region in the coming days, threatening to complicate the recovery process.
Even more chaos is on the horizon as the storm, a reflection of the amplifying consequences of human-fueled climate change, heads toward the Northeast. Here’s the latest:
• Debby’s death toll climbs: One person is dead after a tornado spawned by Debby tore through part of North Carolina’s Wilson County in the earliest hours of Thursday morning, leaving behind damage to a middle school, a church and multiple homes. A man was killed after his home in the town of Lucama collapsed, a county spokesperson told CNN. At least four people in Florida and one in Georgia were also killed by Debby.
• At least a dozen tornadoes confirmed: Debby has whipped up at least a dozen tornadoes as of Thursday that have roared through parts of Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. A tornado in Snow Hill, North Carolina early Thursday was described as “large, extremely dangerous and potentially deadly.” A tornado watch is in effect through 8 p.m. ET for 6.8 million people in parts of eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia, including the cities of Raleigh, Virginia Beach and Richmond.
• Debby’s current path: The system will pick up speed as its center moves north and its impacts push into the Northeast. Debby will accelerate through Pennsylvania and New York Friday and move through New England by early Saturday afternoon, bringing heavy rain and flash flooding to a region drenched by storms earlier this week.
• Disaster declarations across the Southeast: President Joe Biden has approved disaster declarations for Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas – all of which have been pummeled by Debby this week. More than 700 Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel have been deployed to the Southeast, and search and rescue teams are on standby to assist as needed, the agency said Wednesday.
• Flash flood emergency: Debby’s torrential rainfall cut off one North Carolina town from its surrounding areas after up to 8 inches of rain fell in just a few hours Wednesday night, according to a rare flash flood emergency issued by the National Weather Service. Officials in Bladenboro – located in the southern part of the state – reported 3 foot deep floodwater.
• Triple-digit heat coming for Southeast: Potentially dangerous heat has been hovering over the Southeast in Debby’s wake and is expected to persist through the weekend as storm recovery continues. While high temperatures in the upper 80s and lower 90s are expected, the heat indices – how the body feels under combined heat and humidity – could exceed 110 degrees, including in Steinhatchee, Florida, near where Debby made its first landfall.
‘It’s like National Geographic in our backyard’
Debby’s deluge has been a clear illustration of the impact of global warming caused by fossil fuel pollution, which is causing storms to get wetter and strengthen more quickly. Debby, for instance, tracked through near-record warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, which helped it rapidly intensify before making landfall as a hurricane in Florida.
As Debby has churned through the Southeast, the storm has left behind disastrous scenes. Homes have been shredded by winds and swamped by floodwaters, and roads have been washed out or submerged, creating hazardous conditions for impacted communities.
Three children were rescued by emergency crews from a flooded Marsh Creek in Raleigh after getting stuck while trying to cross the water on Thursday, CNN affiliate WRAL reported.
The children were part of a group of five who were riding bikes when they said they came across the creek. The children said the creek appeared to be calm, and so they attempted to cross it – two made it across, when suddenly the last three got caught in the surging waters.
An 11-year-old held onto a tree branch with his 8-year-old sister and their 10-year-old friend as they waited for rescuers, WRAL reported. They were rescued within five minutes of rescuers’ arrival, the station reported.
In South Carolina’s Lowcountry, a home in Bluffton has become an alligator’s paradise as floodwaters turned Adrienne LeBlanc’s yard into an inviting swampland.
Though LeBlanc is no stranger to alligators – often seeing them sunbathing in the distance – she was surprised to wake up after heavy rains Wednesday to discover her backyard had been invaded by alligators.
“It’s like National Geographic in our backyard right now,” LeBlanc told CNN. She counted eight alligators swimming around her house and saw a few of them wrestling.
“Jokingly I told my husband, ‘When I wake up tomorrow that bad boy is going to be in our bedroom,’” LeBlanc said.
After 17 years of living in Bluffton, LeBlanc said she has experienced this level of flooding once – when Hurricane Matthew made landfall in the state in 2016.
South Carolina hasn’t seen a named storm make landfall on its shores since Hurricane Ian’s arrival in 2022 as a Category 1 storm. The last named storm to track across the state in any fashion was Tropical Storm Idalia in August 2023.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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CNN’s Andy Rose, Sharif Paget, Kara Mihm, Christina Zdanowicz and CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward contributed to this report.
