Debby, a Category 1 hurricane, nears the Florida coast

Transcript

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Debby is now a Category 1 hurricane. It's bearing down on Florida's Big Bend region after lashing the state's Gulf Coast yesterday. President Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state. The northern eyewall of the hurricane is making landfall now near Horseshoe Beach. NPR's Debbie Elliott, not to be confused with the hurricane, although she is tracking the other Debby from her Gulf Coast base in Orange Beach, Ala., joins me now. Good morning.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: Good morning.

FADEL: So Hurricane Debby, as we said, is a Category 1 storm with winds of 80 miles per hour. It was a tropical storm Sunday evening. How did it strengthen so quickly?

ELLIOTT: Well, it's the warm waters of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. You know, that's where it spent most of the day yesterday, and it gained strength from that warm water. And with climate change, we're seeing record ocean temperatures that can lead to more intense tropical storms that can gain power pretty quickly. You know, this same region, the Big Bend, that's where Florida's panhandle and peninsula meet, experienced something similar last year when Hurricane Idalia went very quickly from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane. That was in late August, something Governor Ron DeSantis acknowledged as he urged residents to be ready for Hurricane Debby.

RON DESANTIS: This storm will not have winds that reach the level of Hurricane Idalia, but it is going to produce way more water throughout the northern part of the state of Florida. And we are looking at potentially really, really significant flooding.

FADEL: OK, so significant flooding expected - what else do we know so far about the storm's impact?

ELLIOTT: Well, we're already seeing reports out of Horseshoe Beach that the town has pretty much cut off all of its roads now underwater from storm surge as that eyewall is moving in. And Cedar Key, which is just south of where the hurricane is coming ashore, is registering water levels more than 4 and a half feet above mean high water there. Now, ahead of landfall as Debby moved through the Gulf yesterday, it sort of - the outer bands lashing Florida's West Coast, it caused mostly coastal flooding in places like Naples and Tampa Bay. There were some isolated tornadoes. Right now, we've got more than 100,000 customers who are without power. Also, air travel was disrupted in Tampa and Orlando. But forecasters are saying Debby is life-threatening because of the water. That is the big threat here. Six- to 10-foot storm surge along the coast and up to 18 inches of rain, which will cause catastrophic river flooding.

FADEL: Now, how has the state been preparing ahead of the storm?

ELLIOTT: You know, DeSantis mobilized the Florida National Guard and the State Guard, along with equipment for rescue and recovery efforts, things like high-water vehicles, boats, rescue aircraft, and swift water rescue teams - also staging supplies like bottled water, tarps, sandbags, everything in place. More than 15 counties have ordered evacuations and shelters are open. Also several assisted living and nursing homes have evacuated.

FADEL: And where's the storm headed next?

ELLIOTT: You know, Debby is forecast to move slowly inland, where the picture of exactly where it will go isn't so clear. What forecasters do say is that Georgia and the Carolinas will get doused. Here's National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan.

MICHAEL BRENNAN: We could see the system stall. We could see a looping motion. So while the track forecast in the details is uncertain here, we are very confident we're going to have a slow moving system that's going to result in multiple days of very, very heavy rainfall.

ELLIOTT: Now, he's saying some places could get up to 30 inches of rain. That is potentially historic levels, again, producing catastrophic river flooding that could last for weeks.

FADEL: NPR's Debbie Elliott. Thank you, Debbie.

ELLIOTT: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.