(SRN NEWS/AP) – Tropical Storm Debby moved menacingly into some of America’s most historic Southern cities Monday night and was expected to bring prolonged downpours and flooding throughout the day Tuesday after slamming into Florida and prompting the rescue of hundreds from flooded homes.
Record-setting rain was causing flash flooding, with up to 30 inches possible in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said.
Flash flood warnings were issued in Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Both Savannah and Charleston announced curfews Monday night into Tuesday.
Debby made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Florida early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane. It has weakened to a tropical storm and is moving slowly, drenching and bringing areas of catastrophic flooding across portions of eastern Georgia, the coastal plain of South Carolina and southeast North Carolina through Wednesday.
As of Monday night, the storm had claimed at least five lives including one in Georgia where a 19-year-old man was killed when a large tree fell onto a porch of a house in Moultrie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Nearly 160,000 customers remained without power in Florida and Georgia on Monday night, down from a peak of more than 350,000, according to PowerOutage.us and Georgia Electric Membership Corp.