AP was in Walterboro, South Carolina, overlooking an area affected by severe flooding after tropical storm Debby drenched coastal cities in Georgia and South Carolina.
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Tropical Storm Debby pushed bad weather up the East Coast on Wednesday, colliding with other systems and bringing no respite to residents as far away as the Great Lakes and New Jersey, where heavy rain flooded highways and streets and stranded motorists.
Debby already drenched Southern states for days as it churned slowly across Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center warned that isolated areas could see up to 25 inches of rain from Debby.Ìý The National Weather Service's office in Charleston said survey teams confirmed four-Debby related tornadoes.
In Georgia, at least four dams were breached northwest of Savannah in Bulloch County, but no fatalities were reported so far, authorities said at a briefing.
More than 75 people were rescued from floodwaters in the county, said Corey Kemp, director of emergency management, and about 100 roads were closed.
“We’ve been faced with a lot of things we’ve never been faced with before,†Bulloch County Commission Chairman Roy Thompson said.
On Tuesday evening, the moisture from Debby strengthened another storm system, which caused strong thunderstorms across the Great Lakes and in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.
"We had a multi-round period of showers and thunderstorms that kind of scooted from Michigan eastward," Kleebauer said.
As much as 6 inches of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours.
Emergency officials warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some New York City neighborhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee at a moment's notice. Water rescues were reported in the city and surrounding areas.
Nearly 330,000 customers were without power in Ohio by Wednesday afternoon, according to , following severe storms including two confirmed tornadoes. Utility officials with FirstEnergy’s Illuminating Company said power restoration would take days due to the damage.
Yet still, the most rain from Debby so far fell in the South.
A spot near Lake City in north Florida led the nation in total rainfall from Debby at a whopping 19.67 inches, according to national Weather Prediction Center.
In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster said the state was entering Act 2 of a three-act play.
"We've been lucky so far. Things have not been as bad as they could have been," he said of heavy rains that damaged over 60 homes but did not cause significant problems to roads or water systems.
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Act 2 is overnight into Thursday, when Debby moves back onshore and heavy rain returns, this time to the northern part of the coast and inland. An additional 4 to 8 inches of rain could fall, said John Quagliariello, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia.
"It may not be as catastrophic as what we were saying, but we still think as these rain bands develop they could sit over the same area for long periods of time, produce a lot of rainfall and a lot of flooding," Quagliariello said.
The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as it flows to the Atlantic Ocean.
Another area of concern Wednesday was southeastern North Carolina, where Hurricane Matthew caused a historic billion-dollar flood in 2016. Two years later, Hurricane Florence broke many of those records. Both storms killed dozens.
The National Weather Service said up to 9 inches of rain could fall west of Wilmington, North Carolina, in areas that already saw heavy rains overnight.
A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations for the storm without declaring a state of emergency.
The center of Debby was over the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday afternoon, east-southeast of Charleston, the National Hurricane Center said. The tropical storm could make a second landfall in either North Carolina or South Carolina, expected late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday along the Gulf Coast of Florida.
At least six people died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.
Charleston, South Carolina, officials lifted a curfew Wednesday following heavy rains that caused flooding and closed dozens of roads Monday and Tuesday. The city experiences floods several times a year due to rising sea levels.
The lunch crowd poured into the Brown Dog Deli in downtown Charleston after two days of preparing and hunkering down for Tropical Storm Debby.
"We've got a lot of locals walking in after being cooped up for two days looking for a good meal," said Liz Denney, the kitchen manager for the deli, which sells sandwiches and sides.
The restaurant does flood, and a little water got around the sandbags employees put up Monday, but it has seen worse flooding other times in the past year, Denney said.
The deli closed early Monday and couldn't open Tuesday because of Charleston's curfew. Denney said the standing water and occasional interruptions are just part of living on the coast.
Charles Grainger cleans up around his house Wednesday in the historic district of French Quarter Creek in Huger, S.C., as floodwaters recede from Tropical Storm Debby.
Charles Grainger cleans up around his house Wednesday in the historic district of French Quarter Creek in Huger, S.C., as floodwaters recede from Tropical Storm Debby.
Town employee Rebecca Fanning, right, inspects floodwaters Wednesday as Charles Drayton, also a town employee, and his son McKain, 8, walk behind on Atlantic Avenue in Sullivan's Island, S.C., as Tropical Storm Debby approached.