Tropical storm Debby rapidly strengthened into a full-fledged hurricane late Sunday and could make landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida's Gulf Coast by midday on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The agency warned of record-setting rainfall and storm surges.

By 11 p.m. ET (0300 GMT) on Sunday, Debby had sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers an hour) and was expected continue to strengthen overnight.

The hurricane center forecast life-threatening conditions, including storm surges up to 10 feet (3 meters) in some areas.

 

Once it makes landfall, Debby will likely slowly move north through the week, the NHC said.

"This is going to be the story of this storm," Jamie Rhome, the deputy director of the hurricane center said in a Facebook live. "It's slow motion is going to dump historic amounts of rainfall — potentially over 20 inches (50.8 cms). You're talking about catastrophic flooding." 

Potentially record-setting rainfall

Debby is expected to dump up to 12 inches of rain in parts of Florida, and as much as 20 to 30 inches in coastal Georgia and South Carolina before the week is over, the NHC said, describing it as a "potentially historic heavy rainfall."

This is likely to cause catastrophic flooding in central-north Florida, while Georgia and South Carolina are braced for the worst later in the week.

"We are looking at potentially really, really significant flooding that will happen, particularly in north-central Florida," state Governor Ron DeSantis told an emergency briefing on the storm Sunday.

Debby is also expected to cause life-threatening storm surges of up to 10 feet (3 meters) in some areas, the NHC said.

Evacuation and preparations

Mandatory evacuations were ordered late Saturday for part of Citrus County, Florida, with eight other counties under voluntary evacuation orders, as per local media.

Both DeSantis and Rhome urged Floridians to complete their preparations and brace for the storm. 

State of emergency in Georgia and South Carolina

Governors of Georgia and South Carolina declared a state of emergency.

Meanwhile Florida's DeSantis activated the state's National Guard with 3,000 service members on standby.

Weather forecasters expect 2024 to bring a large number of hurricanes originating in the Atlantic ocean, due to exceptionally warm sea waters. The season, which began on June 1, is likely to surpass that of 2005 which brought the devastating Katrina and Rita hurricanes.

So far, 2024 has seen one hurricane — Beryl — from the Atlantic, which became the earliest category 5 hurricane on record. 

mk/jsi (Reuters, AFP)