Hurricane Debby (2024)

Debby, which formed near Cuba, made landfall just west of Steinhatchee, Florida, at 7 a.m. EDT (1100 UTC) on August 5, 2024, as a Category 1 hurricane with 70-knot (81 mph) winds and a central pressure of 979 mb.¹ It passed near Savannah on August 6, moved offshore that evening, and made a second landfall near Bulls Bay, South Carolina, around 2 a.m. EDT on August 8 as a subtropical storm with 40-knot (46 mph) winds.¹

Storm surge reached up to 6 feet above ground between Keaton Beach and Cedar Key and up to 4 feet from Cedar Key to the Anclote River.¹ Measured gusts reached 61 knots (70 mph) at the Skyway Fishing Pier in Tampa Bay and at Mayo.¹ Rain totaled 16.98 inches in Sarasota and 22.02 inches near Moncks Corner, South Carolina, and 14 river gauges crested above major flood stage.¹ Sarasota County officials estimated $57.9 million in damage to more than 1,000 structures, and more than 160 buildings in Manatee County had major damage.¹ Floodwater entered many businesses and structures in Live Oak, and Evans County, Georgia, reported about 30 homes destroyed and 18 with major damage.¹ In South Carolina, water entered buildings in downtown Charleston and many homes in Bluffton and Hilton Head Island, and the state counted at least 70 homes with major damage.¹ Debby produced 26 tornadoes as a tropical cyclone, including an EF-3 that destroyed several homes in Lucama, North Carolina.¹

On August 9, its remnants flooded Tuscarora Creek in Steuben County, New York, pushing homes off their foundations from Greenwood to Addison, and NOAA's Storm Events Database puts damage around Greenwood, Jasper and Woodhull at about $50 million.^2,3 NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information estimates $2.5 billion in US damage, and NHC counts 17 US deaths, 11 of them direct.¹