Tropical Storm Debby is wreaking havoc along the East Coast after killing at least six people in Florida and Georgia.
Since Debby made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday, more than 18,000 flights in, out or around the US have been delayed, according to travel monitoring site, FlightAware. Another 5,000 fights have been canceled this week. New York’s LaGuardia and New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International were the worst-impacted airports on Wednesday afternoon.
“There’s no answers, I’ve been sitting around waiting,” one passenger stuck at LaGuardia told Good Morning America.
“Our flight was supposed to leave at 11:40 this morning,” another passenger told the outlet. “We’re not leaving until 8:30 at night now.”
Debby, which has weakened again to a tropical storm, has brought historic rainfall and catastrophic flooding across the southeast, the National Weather Service said. The storm was hovering off the South Carolina coast on Wednesday and will bring heavy rain to the region through Thursday.
The storm system will then move north, bringing heavy rain to much of the East Coast in the coming days, with remnants impacting as far north as Maine through Saturday.
Some 33,000 people were still without power in Florida on Wednesday. Outages peaked at over 100,000 on Monday after Debby made landfall.
The storm has killed at least six people since hitting Florida, including two children. The first reported deaths came Sunday night after 38-year-old Megan McKee and her 12-year-old daughter, Andie McKee Baldy, died when their car lost control and crashed into a guardrail in Dixie County, Florida amid heavy rain. A 14-year-old was also injured in the accident but his condition is unknown, WALB reports.
A 13-year-old in Levy County, Florida died when a tree blew onto his mobile home on Monday.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with this family as they deal with this tragedy,” the Levy County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “We encourage everyone to use extreme caution as they begin to assess and clean up the damage. Downed powerlines and falling trees are among the many hazards.”
A 19-year-old died that same day in Moultrie, Georgia after a tree fell on his home. A 64-year-old semi-truck driver also died early Monday when his truck lost control and rolled into a canal on Florida’s Interstate 75. Within 15 minutes, the cab was completely submerged in the canal.
“When we got there the trailer was sticking straight in the air and the bridge was holding it,” Mike McArthur, from Stepp’s Towing Service, told Fox13.
The sixth death was reported early Tuesday. Brian Clough, 48, and his dog died while on a boat anchored 50 feet from the Gulfport, Florida coast as Debby made landfall, local outlet WTSP reports.
The storm hit Savannah, Georgia and the surrounding region through Monday and Tuesday.
Savannah firefighters relied on boats to rescue and evacuate residents in flooded neighborhoods, the Associated Press reports. The firefighters also waded through the waist-deep water to deliver bottled water and other supplies to impacted residents.
Michael Jones, a Savannah resident, told the AP the floodwaters inundated his home and he was forced to spend Monday night floating on his kitchen table as he waited for rescue. Firefighters retrieved him early Tuesday.
“It was hell all night,” Jones said. “It was a struggle, but God is good.”
Debby hit the US during what is predicted to be an “extremely active” Atlantic season with up to 23 tropical storms and hurricanes this year, according to a peer-reviewed study from Colorado State University.
This spike is being driven by record-high ocean temperatures linked to the human-drive climate crisis. Last year was the hottest on record, and 2024 is expected to once again beat that record.
