On August 3 local time, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Debby became the fourth named storm in the Atlantic hurricane season, likely to bring heavy rain and coastal flooding to Most of the Gulf Coast of Florida (USA) starts as early as this weekend.
Storm forecasters said the tropical depression upgraded to a tropical storm over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico and hurricane warnings were issued for some areas of Florida.
According to NHC, as of 4:00 p.m. local time on August 3, the center of storm Debby was about 112 km northwest of Havana, Cuba and 160 km southwest of Key West, Florida. The storm has maximum winds of 64 km/h and is moving northwest at a speed of 24 km/h.
NHC forecasts that the storm is expected to continue to strengthen before reaching the Florida Gulf Coast on the night of August 4 or the morning of August 5 and "will likely reach or near hurricane intensity" when it makes landfall.
A hurricane warning is in place for the Florida Gulf Coast from the Suwannee River to the Ochlockonee River.
Winds and thunderstorms were widespread over a wide area, including southern and central Florida, the Florida Keys and the Bahamas.
Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season after Hurricane Alberto, Superstorm Beryl and Hurricane Chris, all of which formed in June.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami forecast Debby will strengthen as it heads north off the southwest coast of Florida, where ocean waters are extremely warm, with temperatures reaching 33.3 degrees Celsius this week.
Storm Debby is likely to cause heavy rains and river flooding, inundating drainage systems and canals in the area.
Forecasters are warning of 130-250mm of rain, which could cause flash flooding and significant urban flooding locally.
Forecasters warn of moderate flooding on several rivers along Florida's West Coast.
Some of the heaviest rains are actually possible next week in an area along the Atlantic coast from Jacksonville, Florida, north through the coastal regions of Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The storm is expected to slow after making landfall.
Florida is prone to flooding even on sunny days when storm surge hits coastal areas, and the storm is predicted to push storm surges up to 6-12 cm along most of Florida's Gulf coast, including including Tampa Bay, with higher tides of 9-15 cm expected farther north in Florida's sparsely populated Big Bend area.
Forecasters issued a storm surge warning on August 3, saying there was a " life-threatening risk of storm surge flooding" in Hernando Beach, Crystal River, Steinhatchee and Cedar Key . Citrus County officials ordered mandatory evacuations of coastal areas.
