ORLANDO, Fla. – Tropical Storm Debby formed Saturday afternoon and continues on a path toward Florida, bringing the threat of heavy rain to the Sunshine State, including Central Florida, where Lake and Polk counties are currently under a tropical storm watch and Sumter County is under a tropical storm warning and a flood watch, the latter running through Monday night.
A tornado watch is in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday for all of Central Florida, except for Brevard County.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie and other state officials held a news conference Sunday morning at the State Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, urging Floridians to heed their counties’ advice and instruction — as well as that of the National Hurricane Center — with regard to weather alerts, potential evacuation orders and further such developments as Debby nears landfall, likely as a Category 1 hurricane. Watch it again by clicking here.
“We are going to face impacts in this state. You still have time to finalize your preparations, so I would urge all Floridians to do so. I’d urge all Floridians to be cognizant of the fact that we are going to have a hurricane hit the state, probably a Category 1, but it could be a little bit more powerful than that, but we are absolutely going to see a lot of rainfall. We are going to see a lot of saturation. We are going to see flooding events like that. That is going to happen,” DeSantis said. “There’s also going to be power outages, that will happen, and we’ve mobilized a lot of resources to get the power back on and help the local communities do that — and we’re proud to play that role to help facilitate that — but there will be some level of interruption, so just prepare for that and make sure that you’re making whatever arrangements that you need to to be able to handle that.”
[MORE: Timing, impacts in Central Florida]
Tropical Depression 4 formed off the south coast of Cuba and was upgraded to a tropical storm over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, according to the NHC.
As of 11 a.m. Sunday, Tropical Storm Debby had maximum sustained winds of 65 mph and was moving north-northwest at 13 mph.
Tropical Storm Debby — about 130 miles west-southwest of Tampa and about 160 miles south-southwest of Cedar Key — is expected to continue strengthening over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and to become a hurricane before landfall in the Big Bend, according to the NHC.
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SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:
A Storm Surge Warning is in effect for...
* Florida coast from the middle of Longboat Key northward to Indian Pass including Tampa Bay
A Storm Surge Watch is in effect for...
* Florida coast from Bonita Beach northward to the middle of Longboat Key, including Charlotte Harbor
* Georgia and South Carolina coast from the Mouth of the St. Mary’s River to South Santee River South Carolina
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for...
* Florida coast from the Suwannee River to the Ochlockonee River
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for...
* Florida coast west of the Ochlockonee River to Indian Pass
* Florida coast south of the Suwannee River to Yankeetown
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...
* Dry Tortugas
* Florida coast south of the Suwannee River to East Cape Sable
* Florida coast west of the Ochlockonee River to Indian Pass
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for...
* Florida coast west of Indian Pass to Mexico Beach
* Georgia and South Carolina coast from the Mouth of the St. Mary’s River to South Santee River South Carolina
National Hurricane Center in Miami 1100 AM EDT Sun Aug 04 2024 (excerpt)
Hurricane season runs through November.
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