(Tampa) The Hurricane Debby made landfall in northern Florida Monday morning as a Category 1 storm.
According to data from the United States National Hurricane Center in Miami, Debby was accompanied by maximum sustained winds of nearly 130 km/h.
The storm made landfall in Steinhatchee, a small community of fewer than 1,000 people in the Big Bend region of the Gulf Coast.
The hurricane made landfall in one of the least populated areas of Florida, but forecasters warned that heavy rains could cause catastrophic flooding in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.
PHOTO MARIA ALEJANDRA CARDONA, REUTERS ARCHIVES
The Hurricane Debby in Fort Myers, Florida on August 4, 2024.
The storm was moving northeast at 17 km/h.
Nearly 214,000 customers were without power in Florida as of Monday morning, according to the website PowerOutage.com.
Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, following Tropical Storm Albertothe hurricane Beryl and the tropical storm Chrisall of which formed in June.
Tropical storms and hurricanes can trigger river flooding and overwhelm drainage systems. Forecasters anticipate 6 to 12 inches of rain, and up to 18 inches in isolated areas of Florida.