Tropical Storm Debby soaks Florida
Liam Dutton
Weather Presenter
Parts of Florida have been have been hit by Tropical Storm Debby during the last 24 hours, with torrential rain and strong winds resulting in flooding and damage to properties.
Whilst the storm is still around 85 miles offshore, tropical storm-force winds of 45mph extend as far as 200 miles from its centre, with stronger gusts.
Florida state governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency early on Monday with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) putting a tropical storm warning into effect for much of the Gulf coastline.
At least one person has been killed by a tornado in Florida and crews are still searching for a man who went missing in rough surf on Sunday.
Low-lying neighbourhoods have seen the greatest impacts, with a loss of power to around 35,000 homes and businesses.
Highways in the Tampa area were affected including a four-mile stretch of road connecting the city of St Petersburg with the Bradenton area.
The bridge leading to St George Island, a holiday spot along the Florida Panhandle, was closed to everyone except residents in an attempt to keep looters out.
Debby also had impacts at sea, with about a quarter of US offshore oil and natural gas production halted in the Gulf of Mexico at the weekend according to figures issued by regulators.
According to the NHC, Tropical Storm Debby is the first named storm of 2012 to move into the Gulf of Mexico.
The difficulty with Debby has been her slow-moving nature, which in some respects can bring more prolonged problems than a weak hurricane moving through quickly.
Torrential rain has fallen in the same areas for long periods of time, with many areas seeing 6-10 inches and a few places as much as 15 inches. It is the persistence of the downpours that has caused the flooding.
Federal Emergency Management Agency director Craig Fugate said: “Gulf Coast residents and visitors should take Tropical Storm Debby seriously. Flooding with Tropical Storm Debby is a very big concern for the Florida Panhandle and portions of the southeast.”
The latest forecast from the NHC suggests that Debby will continue to drift slowly eastwards across northern Florida and weaken slightly during the next few days. Despite weakening, there could still be an additional four to eight inches of rain in parts of northern Florida.
Looking further ahead, there is a possibility that Debby may re-emerge along the Atlantic coast of Florida on Friday and start to strengthen again, gaining energy from the warm ocean water.