By Rich McKay and Brad Brooks
ATLANTA (Reuters) -Tropical Storm Debby was downgraded to a tropical depression on Thursday after leaving at least seven people dead in its wake across the U.S. southeast this week.
Debby is currently spiraling northward toward Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, where it’s forecast to spawn a few tornadoes and threaten more flash flooding on some already soaked patches of the U.S., forecasters said.
The National Weather Service said in a bulletin that while Debby would continue to weaken through Sunday, “heavy rain, flash and river flooding effects will continue over the next two days as the storm begins its northeastward acceleration.”
Debby made landfall on Thursday for a second time this week, arriving on shore again near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, three days after slamming into Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane, then traveling across northern Florida and Georgia to the Atlantic Coast.
Debby could spawn a few tornadoes in North Carolina and Virginia later Thursday and early Friday, including in the vicinity of Washington, D.C., the NWS said.
Debby was forecast to bring another 3 inches (7 cm) of rain on Thursday to parts of eastern South Carolina, the National Hurricane Center said, with total amounts in some spots exceeding 25 inches (64 cm) since Monday. Rainfall totals could reach 15 inches (38 cm) in southeastern North Carolina and 10 inches (25 cm) in parts of Virginia.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said there had been no storm-related deaths in his state as of Thursday afternoon, but he urged residents to remain cautious about venturing out as the state faces the threat of river flooding.
“It’s not over yet. We’ve passed some dangers, but there are still plenty, so don’t let your guard down yet,” McMaster said at a press conference.
More than 45,000 customers were without power in North Carolina and Virginia Thursday night, according to the tracking site, Poweroutage.us.
A tornado killed one man when his house collapsed as it tore through eastern North Carolina and damaged at least 10 houses, a church and a school in Wilson County, North Carolina, early on Thursday, county officials reported on social media.
By the weekend, Debby could produce up to 6 inches (15 cm) of rain from Maryland into northern Vermont. But New York City will avoid the worst of the storm, said Josh Weiss, a forecaster with the weather service.
In Bulloch County, Georgia, about 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Savannah, four dams burst on Wednesday as a result of floodwaters, and officials warned the Cypress Lake Dam was at risk of failure on Thursday.
That forced the evacuation of local residents after homes were flooded and roads made impassable as lakes and creeks overflowed, the Bulloch County Sheriff’s Office reported.
(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Brad Brooks in Colorado; additional reporting by Swati Verma; editing by Miral Fahmy, Bernadette Baum, Jonathan Oatis, Aurora Ellis and Michael Perry)
