Flash flooding in southern US cities as Tropical Storm Debby moves in

The storm’s centre is expected to move out over the water off the Georgia and South Carolina coast, then move back inland.

Tybee Island Department of Public Works employee Bruce Saunders uses a backhoe to pile sand as a barrier against storm surge from Tropical Storm Debby at a beach access point

Tropical Storm Debby has moved menacingly into some of the most historic southern cities in the US, bringing prolonged downpours and flooding on Tuesday.

Record-setting rain from the storm that killed at least five people in Florida and Georgia was causing flash flooding, with up to 25 inches possible in some areas, the National Hurricane Centre said in its latest advisory on Tuesday morning.

The storm’s centre was just south-west of Savannah early on Tuesday, with maximum sustained winds near 45mph and it was moving north-east at less than 6mph.

Richard Pasch, of the National Hurricane Centre, said: “Tropical cyclones always produce heavy rain, but normally as they’re moving, you know, it doesn’t accumulate that much in one place.

“But when they move very slowly, that’s the worst situation.”

The driver of a stranded vehicle pushes his van out of a flooded street after heavy rain from Tropical Storm Debby in Savannah, Georgia (Stephen B Morton/AP/PA)

Tropical cyclones derive their energy from warm water, so Debby has weakened over land, but part of the circulation was interacting with water over the Atlantic, Mr Pasch said.

The storm’s centre is expected to move out over the water off the Georgia and South Carolina coast, then move back inland, so it could restrengthen on Wednesday before it moves inland on Thursday over South Carolina, he said.

More than six inches of rain had fallen through Monday at Savannah’s airport and showed no signs of stopping on Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported.

The figure is already a month’s worth of rain in a single day: In all of August 2023, the city got 5.56 inches of rain.

Flash flood warnings were issued in Savannah and Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Both Savannah and Charleston announced overnight curfews as the rains picked up.

Charleston police barricaded all eight roads leading into the 350-year-old city built on a marshy peninsula on Monday night after urging non-residents to leave, and said the curfew would remain through Tuesday, letting only essential workers and emergency personnel pass through.

Tornadoes knocked down trees and damaged a few homes on Kiawah Island and Edisto Island between Savannah and Charleston.

More than 10 inches of rain fell between Hilton Head Island and Charleston overnight, radar estimates showed.

Debby made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Florida early on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane.

Amy Tittle holds on to her hat while trying to photograph her son surfing in the high waves created by Tropical Storm Debby near the pier in Tybee Island, Georgia (Stephen B Morton/AP/PA)

Weakening winds made it a tropical storm again, but its slow forward movement and the ocean water it picked up caused catastrophic damage in places.

About 500 people were rescued on Monday from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, a beach city popular with tourists, the Sarasota Police Department announced.

“Essentially we’ve had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have,” Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun said on social media.

Five people had died due to the storm as of Monday night, including a tractor trailer driver who lost control on Interstate 75 in the Tampa area, flipping over a concrete wall and dangling over the edge before the cab dropped into the water below.

Sheriff’s office divers located the body of the 64-year-old man from Mississippi in the cab, 40ft below the surface, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

A 13-year-old boy died when a tree fell on a mobile home south-west of Gainesville, Florida, and in Dixie County, near where Debby made landfall, a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy died in a car crash on wet roads.

In south Georgia, a 19-year-old man died when a large tree fell onto a porch at a home in Moultrie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

More than 155,000 customers remained without power in Florida and Georgia on Tuesday morning, down from more than 350,000, according to PowerOutage.us and Georgia Electric Membership Corp.

More than 20,000 others were without power in South Carolina early on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations making federal disaster assistance available to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.