Tropical Storm Debbie is wreaking havoc along the East Coast of the United States, causing heavy rains and dangerous flooding. Debbie has claimed the lives of at least six people.
Debbie made landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida early Monday morning as a Category 1 hurricane. The maximum sustained wind was 80 miles per hour. Since then, it has weakened to a tropical storm and has been moving slowly, pouring massive amounts of rain, flooding homes and roads.
Early Monday morning in Cedar Key, Florida, flooding occurred due to a storm surge up to 6 feet high.
Record rains have caused flash floods, with some areas potentially receiving up to 30 inches of rain. About 500 people were evacuated from flooded homes in the beach city of Sarasota, Florida. It was one of the cities most affected by Monday's flooding.
On Monday evening, a state of emergency was declared due to flash flooding in the Lake City area in north-central Florida, where up to a foot of rain had fallen.
Along the coast between Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, nearly a foot of rain fell in 24 hours. Police closed all roads into the Charleston peninsula except for essential workers and emergency personnel. Dozens of roads were closed in the historic city due to flooding. In one area of Savannah, firefighters used boats to evacuate some residents and navigated floodwaters to deliver bottled water and other supplies to those who refused to leave.
Tornadoes knocked down trees and damaged several homes on Kiawah and Edisto Islands. According to the Berkeley County emergency manager, a tornado destroyed several businesses and damaged many buildings. Several trees and power poles were downed, some landing on cars.
On Tuesday, Debbie continued to pour rain on Parris Island, South Carolina. In Green Pond, rural Colleton County, South Carolina, the most rainfall was recorded at just over 14 inches. Water overflowed the edge of a dam, but it did not break, while trees and washouts blocked several roads.
According to PowerOutage.us and the Georgia Electric Membership Corp., more than 350,000 customers were left without power in Florida and Georgia. Airports were also affected. According to FlightAware.com, more than 1,600 flights were canceled nationwide.
Like other tropical hurricanes that have emerged in recent years, Debbie has exhibited abnormal behavior. It made landfall near Steinhatchee, a small settlement in northern Florida. This is close to where Hurricane Idalia made landfall less than a year ago. According to a local resident, in the 73 years she has lived in the area, they had not faced a direct hit from hurricanes, while now there have been two in less than a year. Does this indicate that hurricanes, receiving more energy from an overheated ocean, will now penetrate deeper inland and bring destruction to settlements whose infrastructure and residents are completely unprepared for such a strike?
This was discussed in detail at the forum "Global Crisis. The Responsibility," which also covered the reasons behind other recent weather anomalies and offered solutions to the climate crisis on the planet.