Debby weakens to tropical depression after South Carolina landfall, heads up East Coast as heavy rainmaker
Tornadoes spawned by Debby leveled homes, damaged a school and killed one person early Thursday, as the tropical system dropped heavy rain and flooded communities across North and South Carolina.
Debby made a second landfall early Thursday morning as a tropical storm in South Carolina before weakening to a tropical depression. The storm was on its way up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont are forecast to get several inches of rain this weekend.
"From portions of Maryland north through Upstate New York and Vermont, 2 to 4 inches, with local amounts to 6 inches, are expected through Friday night," the hurricane center said, bringing the likelihood of flash and urban flooding.
Flood watches and warnings were in place in South and North Carolina, Virginia. eastern West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
At about 10 p.m. Wednesday, Emily Dowless, owner of the Market on Main shop in Bladenboro, North Carolina, got a call from the fire department that her business was flooding.
"It was no flooding whatsoever last night, and then within 30 minutes it was coming in our door," Dowless told CBS News. "So it happened very quickly."
Bladenboro is a one stoplight town, and Dowless' family store is among at least five there that flooded.
"This is our family's livelihood," Dowless said. "So we have a lot of employees and different families that depend on this business. And so it means a lot."
Across the street, Mark Hester, owner of the Medicine Shoppe, the only pharmacy in town, was also spending Thursday cleaning up from the flooding.
"It's a business that we need to keep running," Hester said. "We can't just shut it down, because people are going to be needing new medicines here pretty soon."
The National Hurricane Center said Debby came ashore near Bulls Bay, South Carolina. The storm is expected to keep moving inland, spreading heavy rain and possible flooding all the way up through the mid-Atlantic and the Northeast by the weekend.
The storm first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. As of 11 p.m. EDT Thursday, it had maximum sustained winds of 30 mph, the Miami-based hurricane center said. Debby's center was about 80 miles northeast of Charlotte, North Carolina, and some 90 miles northwest of Raleigh, North Carolina. It was moving north-northeast at 26 mph.
Debby was expected to drop an additional 3 to 6 inches of rain — with locally higher amounts — across parts of southeastern North Carolina, bringing storm total amounts to as high as 15 inches, the hurricane center said.
Additional rainfall of 1 to 3 inches over parts eastern South Carolina could bring total rainfall amounts to as high as 25 inches. "Considerable flooding" is expected across parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Friday, forecasters said.
From North Carolina to Virginia, 3 to 7 inches or more are expected through Friday, likely leading to flash, river and urban flooding. Maryland through Upstate New York and Vermont could see 2 to 4 inches or more through Friday night, also leading to flooding.
Debby was being blamed for the deaths of at least seven people — four in Florida, including two children, one in Georgia and two in North Carolina.
The state in Debby's path with the most power outages Thursday evening — more than 26,000 — was North Carolina, according to PowerOutage.us.
Debby spawned several suspected tornados early Thursday, including one that Wilson County Emergency Management Director Gordon Deno said damaged the Springfield Middle School in Lucama, North Carolina, a city about 40 miles east of Raleigh. He said several homes and a church were also damaged but no injuries have been reported.
"It literally brought tears to all of our eyes for our community to be hit like this. It affects us all," Jamie Driver told CBS News' Patrick Torphy.
Her son goes to the school and her husband, Robbie Driver, responded there as a firefighter with the Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department.
It only took 15 seconds for a tornado to devastate Genesis Cooper's Lucama home. He almost slept through it — if not for an alert on his wife's phone.
He, his wife and their 20-year-old son huddled in a bathroom with blankets. They felt vibrations and heard glass shattering before hearing a sudden boom.
"I can't even describe it. It's like, suction, that's what it felt like," Cooper said. "Like something is squeezing, like your ears are popping."
The National Weather Service's office in Charleston also said survey teams confirmed four-Debby related tornadoes.
Tornado warnings continued to be issued throughout North Carolina and Virginia into the night. A tornado watch was in effect for over 17 million people in parts of Washington, D.C., Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia until 7 a.m. on Friday.
In Huger, about 15 miles northeast of Charleston, Gene Taylor was waiting in the afternoon for a few inches of water to drain from his house along French Quarter Creek as high tide passed.
Taylor saw the potential for flooding last week and started moving belongings out or up higher in his home. It's a lesson learned the hard way: Taylor estimated that this was the fourth time he's had floodwater in his home in the past nine years.
"To save everything, we've learned from the past it's better be prepared for the worst. And unfortunately, I think we got it," Taylor said.
A few doors down, Charles Grainger was cleaning up after about 8 inches of water got into his home.
"Eight inches disrupts your whole life," Grainger said. "You don't get used to it. You just grin and bear it. It's part of living on the creek."
A dam north of Fayetteville, North Carolina, broke Thursday morning as Debby drenched the area. Between 12 and 15 homes were evacuated, but no one was injured and no structures were damaged, Harnett County spokesperson Desiree Patrick said in an email.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said at a briefing Thursday that the state has activated more National Guard troops and added additional vehicles that can rescue people in floods.
In Georgia, at least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Bulloch County, but no deaths had been reported, authorities said at a briefing.
More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.
"We've been faced with a lot of things we've never been faced with before," Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said. "I'm 78-plus years old and have never seen anything like this before in Bulloch County. It's amazing what has happened, and amazing what is going to continue to happen until all these waters get out of here."
Still, more flooding was expected in North and South Carolina. Up to 6 more inches of rain could fall before Debby clears those states. Parts of Maryland, upstate New York and Vermont could get similar rainfall totals by the end of the weekend, the weather service said.
Central parts of North Carolina up through Virginia were forecast to receive 3 to 7 inches of rain, with isolated areas getting up to 10 inches through Friday. The hurricane center warned of the potential for flash flooding.