As residents of Florida's Big Bend region prepare for a potential hurricane to start the week, those in Georgia and South Carolina should be preparing for "catastrophic flooding" to last into Friday, the National Hurricane Center warned.
Tropical Storm Debby was still churning in the Gulf of Mexico as of Sunday evening, with top sustained winds of 65 mph.
The storm is expected to strengthen into a hurricane overnight before making landfall in Florida on Monday. A hurricane warning was issued for the Big Bend of Florida.
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is mobilizing resources, including 12 swift water rescue teams and 17,000 lineman to assist with expected power outages. In addition, members of the Florida National Guard are already positioned in areas expected to be hardest hit.
"Tropical Storm Debby is likely to become a Category 1 hurricane before making landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida," DeSantis said at a Sunday news conference. "As you remember last year, we had Hurricane Idalia. This storm is a similar track."
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Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said some areas of Florida could see up to 20 inches of rain in addition to wind and storm surge.
Meanwhile, Georgia and South Carolina residents should be ready for "historic heavy rainfall" for much of the week, the National Hurricane Center said. Although the storm will lose strength once inland, it is expected to stall over southern Georgia for several days and forecasters say up to 20 inches could fall around Savannah, Georgia, and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
Debby is the fourth named storm in the Atlantic basin this year.
