Hurricane Debby makes landfall as a Category 1 storm with 80mph winds

Hurricane Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday morning, with winds of 80mph and after forecasters had warned of life-threatening storm surges and widespread flooding.

The National Hurricane Center confirmed that Debby touched down near Steinhatchee in Florida's Big Bend at around 7 a.m. ET. It was moving north-northeast at a rate of 10mph.

A hurricane warning is in place for Florida's Gulf Coast, from Yankeetown to Indian Pass, while large parts of the state's coastline are under a tropical storm warning and storm surge watches.

On Sunday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 counties expected to be affected by the storm. In a statement, his office said that 3,000 National Guard members have been mobilized to assist with storm response, sandbags were being distributed and Florida’s emergency operations center has been activated.

The hurricane is forecast to bring a storm surge of 2 to 10 feet in certain areas, and heavy rain through Friday morning.

Parts of central and northern Florida and southeastern North Carolina could get 6 to 12 inches of rain, with up to 18 inches possible. And parts of southeast Georgia and South Carolina could get 10 to 20 inches of rain, with up to 30 inches in some areas, the hurricane center said.

Officials in and around the coastal Carolinas were preparing for the storm to bring unprecedented rain to parts of the region, with Charleston, South Carolina-area officials saying as much as 30 inches could fall starting Monday.

Evacuation orders for at least a half-dozen Florida counties were either in effect or planned for Monday as the storm approached.

High-water rescues were already taking place in Pinellas County, Florida, as storm surges and heavy rains caused flooding, the county emergency management agency said.

Florida Highway Patrol officers on Sunday night closed Skyway Bridge in St. Petersberg amid high winds, according to a statement. The University of South Florida in St. Petersberg and the University of Florida in Gainesville, in the northern half of the state, said they would be closed Monday.

The Taylor County Sheriff's Office in the state's Big Bend region issued a statement urging residents to "use extreme caution" if they must travel the area's roads when as much as 15 inches of rain was expected in a short timespan.

DeSantis compared Debby’s path to that of Hurricane Idalia, the Category 4 storm that caused significant damage in north Florida last year.

Debby won’t have winds as strong as Idalia’s, but it will bring much more moisture, DeSantis said Sunday afternoon.

At least three deaths were attributed to the 2023 storm, which left hundreds of thousands of customers without power, forced residents to swim out their windows as water rushed in and left communities digging through debris.