South Carolina braces for deluge as Tropical Storm Debby makes landfall

By Rich McKay and Brad Brooks

ATLANTA (Reuters) -Tropical Storm Debby made landfall early on Thursday and is forecast to dump even more rain on the South Carolina coast, prompting fears of flash flooding in areas already soaked by the slow-moving weather system.

The storm could dump another 9 inches (23 cm) of rain in parts of eastern South Carolina on Thursday, forecasters said, with total accumulative rainfall in some spots hitting more than 25 inches since Debby started lashing the southeastern United States on Monday.

While Debby produced less rain on Wednesday than the previous days, Rich Bann, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service warned that Thursday would be different.

“Moisture has pulsed back into Debby,” Bann said, noting that the storm picked up water as it spent the last day parked over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. “As Debby makes its way inland … the threat of heavy rains will lead to flooding concerns.”

Bann said that by Friday Debby would be dumping up to 4 inches of rain on Virginia up into Pennsylvania, where ground in some patches was already soaked from other storms this week, heightening flooding concerns there. By the weekend, the storm could also produce rain of up to 4 inches in central New York state and into northern Vermont.

Debby was located about 20 miles (35 kms) northeast of Charleston and moving about 5 miles per hour (7 km per hour) toward the northwest, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph). Additional weakening is forecast today as the storm’s center moves farther inland, the National Hurricane Center said.

At least six people have died in Florida and Georgia in the wake of the storm, which made landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane and headed northeast.

Governors in the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia have declared states of emergency. The storm has already left neighborhoods and communities underwater, washing out streets and inundating homes across the region.

Emergency management officials were keeping a close watch as the rainwater drained into the numerous river systems that snake through the Carolinas. The National Water Prediction Service forecast that seven waterways would reach major flood levels before the weather event runs its course.