Debby strengthens to Category 1 hurricane, expected to make landfall in Florida
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Tropical Storm Debby has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane ahead of its anticipated landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast on Monday, U.S. forecasters said late Sunday.
The storm's maximum winds had increased to 75 mph at 11 p.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane was about 65 miles west of Cedar Key, Florida, and about 100 miles west of Tampa, and it was moving north at about 12 mph, the center said.
Debby is expected to continue strengthening before it reaches the Big Bend coast Monday, weakening after it moves inland across northern Florida and southern Georgia, it said.
The hurricane is forecast to bring a storm surge of 2 to 10 feet in certain areas and heavy rain through Friday morning.
Parts of central and northern Florida and southeastern North Carolina could get 6 to 12 inches of rain, with up to 18 inches possible. And parts of southeast Georgia and South Carolina could get 10 to 20 inches of rain, with up to 30 inches in some areas, the hurricane center said.
Tropical storm conditions are expected to continue along parts of Florida's Gulf Coast through Sunday night, in addition to hurricane conditions along the coast from the Suwannee River to Yankeetown.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis compared Debby's path to that of Hurricane Idalia, the Category 4 storm that caused significant damage in north Florida last year.
Debby won't have winds as strong as Idalia's, but it will bring much more moisture, DeSantis said Sunday afternoon.
At least three deaths have been attributed to the storm, which left hundreds of thousands of customers without power, forced residents to swim out their windows as water rushed in and left communities digging through debris.
Victoria Feng
Victoria Feng is an intern on the NBC News technology desk.
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It's expected to bring some much-needed rain to Virginia.
This is the Shenandoah River today, very low
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Hope the Hurricane brings rain
Shenandoah River today, same place. The debris Is stuck on the low water bridge
I was standing on in first picture
Started raining
A patient today who works for VDOT said his supervisor had just received an update. Potentially 8-10 inches of rain for us by Saturday morning.
Arvo..good it will bring you much needed rain but hopefully not the winds that will cause damage...
Good morning, shona. I think we're supposed to get some wind, but not hurricane strength. We're inland enough that it will weaken by the time it gets to us.
I made the mistake of not bringing my umbrella into the grocery store yesterday. I may as well have just jumped in a pool by the time I reached my car on the way out. Even my spaghetti noodles got soaked inside the box. Looking forward to hearing my sump pump cycle on and off for the next five days.
Emergency Services says that a lot of roads and bridges are underwater, and asks anybody who can stay home to do so. There is a water rescue in progress, I read.