Hurricane Debby Leaves Several Casualties Behind and Thousands Without Power

Debby escalated quickly from a tropical storm to a hurricane on Sunday night. Within only a few hours after this escalation, Debby then made landfall in Florida at 7 a.m. on Monday.

Florida officials have warned the public of the potential severity of this hurricane, which could knock out power for more than a few days.

Now, it appears that at least 247,981 power outages have been seen throughout the state of Florida by just 7:25 a.m. — only about half an hour after Debby truly hit Florida.

Even before Debby hit Florida — or before it became a Category 1 hurricane — officials such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that many could face power outages.

The utility with the most affected customers was Duke Energy, which had about 44,000 customers still without power. Duke Energy said 3,000 out-of-state crews were assisting its Florida team to bring power back to its clients.

On Monday, DeSantis added, “We have a lot of restoration personnel ready to go.”

“I think because this is a Category 1 with 80-mile-an-hour sustained winds, the total number of power outages are not going to reach the level that they did with Hurricane Idalia, certainly not the level that they did with Hurricane Ian back in 2022,” he explained.

“I know a lot of the utilities have already restored hundreds or thousands of folks starting yesterday,” DeSantis stated. “We also have Starlink internet ready to deploy if that is needed.”

DeSantis has warned people that crews cannot be deployed to fix lines and bring power back to countless homes and businesses until the storm has passed. Otherwise, it would put crews in danger.

Verizon customers can purchase a hot-spot device with a one-time payment of $79.99 or $2.22 per month for 36 months, which will provide unlimited WiFi. The company’s cell sites have generators and backup batteries so that you can still have access to the Internet even if the power goes out.

AT&T offers hotspot devices as long as regional networks are still functioning. Spectrum customers are also entitled to mobile hotpots under certain plans. T-Mobile provides backup power like generators and batteries at its cell towers to keep the power going.

A slow-moving storm could bring more destruction and rain to various areas in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. It could also leave people without power for an extended and dangerous period of time.

Nearly 130,000 people in North Carolina were left without power after a second landfall since the tropical storm hit the state. The hardest hit area was Mecklenberg County, where more than 23,000 customers were without power. Other affected places were Chatham, Gaston and Forsyth Counties.

The storm hit less than 30 miles northeast of Charleston, South Carolina, with maximum winds up to 50mph. Some areas were predicted to reach up to 15 inches of rain in the Carolinas and Virginia.

The State of Emergency was called due to expectations of rain, potential flooding and power outages. Other effects of the storm include tornadoes. Officials said that voluntary evacuations were underway in much of eastern North Carolina. So far, the extent of the damage to the region or potential casualties is unknown.

The statement said: “The State Emergency Response Team has pre-positioned people and equipment to expedite help to local communities, including supplies such as water, sandbags, tarps and water pumps.”

The northeastern state is experiencing high winds, power outages and downed trees as it takes the residual effects of the hurricane. Just before 8 a.m., Vermont State Police reported two closed roads in Jericho due to fallen trees and power lines.  

Mike Bosma, from Vermont Emergency Management, said the agency received two requests for assistance related to the storm. Bosma said: “We facilitated the border crossing of power crews from Canada to assist with power restoration. The Urban Search and Rescue team was also dispatched to Alburgh to help free an individual from a collapsed building.”

Vermont Electric Coop, the utility provider that accounts for about half of the outages, said 10 mutual aid crews from Massachusetts have come to help with repairs. Crews are helping towns remove debris from roadways. The public has been warned to steer clear of power lines. The most affected counties are Chittenden, Addison, Orleans and Franklin.

Life-threatening storm surges have also been forecasted, which could lead to dangerous situations in Florida.

As a result of this massive rainfall, many are worried that major flooding could quickly become a huge issue — especially because Debby is so slow-moving.

Debby was able to rapidly form from a storm to a hurricane thanks to the very warm ocean waters it was in — something that experts say we’ll see happen even more, thanks to the warming of the planet.

The power remains off in over 100,000 homes and businesses across four states. Over the week that the storm ravaged the East Coast and several people were killed. More than half of the power outages were in Ohio, where tornadoes blew through the state as a result of the storm.

Debby’s last day in the U.S. left south-central New York and north-central Pennsylvania inundated, prompting evacuations and rescues by helicopter. On August 9, the storm continued lashing New England and southern Quebec with rain despite conditions improving as the it traveled northeast.