As storm Debby strengthens, southeast US braces for ‘historic’ rainfall

WASHINGTON: Some residents on Florida´s Gulf coast have been ordered to evacuate as tropical storm Debby approaches hurricane force, with a likelihood of dumping “potentially historic” rainfall in the southeastern US, officials said on Sunday.

Debby, now strengthening rapidly in an unusually warm Gulf of Mexico, is expected to slam into Florida´s Big Bend region at hurricane strength sometime late on Sunday.

It is expected then to slowly weaken, but to continue dumping huge amounts of rain on Florida, southeastern Georgia and South Carolina as it rumbles slowly through over the next five days, a National Hurricane Center (NHC) advisory said Sunday.

Mike Brennan, an NHC briefer, said Sunday that the entire west coast of Florida is being placed under tropical storm warning. He urged locals, particularly on the northwestern coast and Florida panhandle, to “find a safe place to be in by nightfall.”

As of 8:00 am (1200 GMT), the storm was about 255-kms southwest of the major city of Tampa, carrying maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour and moving northwest at 13 miles per hour, the advisory said.

As locals rushed to prepare, mandatory evacuations were ordered late Saturday for part of Citrus County, Florida, with eight other counties under voluntary evacuation orders, local media reported.