Overview
By: Elizabeth Wolfe, Aditi Sangal, Antoinette Radford, Eric Zerkel, and Mary Gilbert, CNN
Updated: 9:56 AM EDT, Mon August 5, 2024
Key Points
Making Landfall
Hurricane Debby, a Category 1 storm, made landfall Monday morning near Steinhatchee in Florida’s Big Bend area, with winds reaching 80 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. See Debby’s projected path.
Historic Rainfall
Debby is expected to slow considerably and unleash potentially historic rainfall in Georgia and South Carolina, potentially causing catastrophic flooding. Studies indicate that tropical systems are slowing down over time, increasing the likelihood of greater rainfall totals.
Repeat Target
The Big Bend area is still recovering from Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall just 9 miles from where Debby did last August. Idalia was the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the region in over 125 years.
Role of Climate Change
Global warming, driven by fossil fuel pollution, is causing storms to become wetter and strengthen more rapidly. Debby intensified quickly due to near-record warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico.
Source of this information is here.