Tropical Storm Debby forms, expected to become a hurricane on Monday and hit Florida's Gulf Coast By Reuters
Written by Rich McKay
(Reuters) – Tropical Storm Debby formed late on Saturday and was expected to become a hurricane before it made landfall on Florida's northern Gulf Coast on Monday, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm turned into a tropical storm after days of moving as a broad, smooth system in the Atlantic, finally making landfall on the northern coast of Cuba on Saturday evening, when it was about 100 kilometers west-southwest of Key West, Florida, forecasters said.
“It is becoming clear that Debby will become a hurricane before it makes landfall,” said Jamie Rhome, deputy director of the NHC, urging people to heed evacuation orders.
The storm was crawling at 14 mph (23 kph) into the Gulf Coast about 240 miles (386 km) south of Tampa, where its winds were expected to increase from 40 mph to 70 mph or more as it gained strength overnight.
“This is a life-threatening situation,” the NHC said in a report late Saturday.
Debby was already unleashing torrential rain, 40 mph winds and high tides in Key West, Florida on Saturday night.
“There are many hazards, not only the wind,” said Rhome.
He warned of storm surges of up to 7 feet (2 m) in Florida's Big Bend area where it is expected to hit the southeastern Florida Panhandle.
“Now, I'm six feet tall,” Rhome said. “So that's over my head,” he said.
He added that as much as 25 inches (25 centimeters) of rain and 15 inches of snow could be expected, with more if the storm weakens or stabilizes on land.
Debby is expected to cross from Central Florida to the Atlantic coast and crawl to Savannah, Georgia, then Charleston, South Carolina.
The beach is forecast for Bonita Beach north of Tampa Bay. Those surges can send ocean waves further inland than normal structures, damaging and endangering anyone in their path.
Parts of three Gulf Coast Florida counties, Pasco, Hernando and Citrus, issued mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders Saturday.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for southern Florida and reaches as far north as the Fort Myers area, which was devastated by Hurricane Ian in 2022.
Governor Ron DeSantis called in 3,000 National Guardsmen and placed most of the state's cities and counties under emergency orders ahead of the expected collapse.
US forecasters expect the largest number of Atlantic hurricanes to form during the 2024 season, which began on June 1, with four to seven major hurricanes making up the 25 named storms. That's more than the record-breaking 2005 season that spawned hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Only one hurricane, Beryl, has made landfall in the Atlantic so far this year. The first Category 5 hurricane on record, it devastated the Caribbean and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula before moving up the Gulf Coast of Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of up to 95 mph.
Debby is expected to follow the same track as the 2022 hurricane Ian, which killed at least 103 people in Florida and caused billions of dollars in damage as it moved along the Gulf Coast.
