TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Our National Weather Service of Tallahassee office released an overview of local impacts from Hurricane Debby which we will review here.
Hurricane Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane on August 5th.
Landfall occurred near Steinhatchee that morning.
The slow-moving system moved through South Georgia in the hours to come making water levels in rivers and streams and overall land coverage of rain high.
Unfortunately, 2 direct and 2 indirect deaths were caused by this tropical cyclone.
Both direct deaths occurred when trees fell onto homes. The first was in Dixie County, Florida and another killing a 19-year-old boy in Moultrie, Georgia.
Two indirect deaths were a result of a traffic accident in Dixie County.
Also according to the report, in Taylor county over 34,000 residents lost power. Over $1 million in damages were also estimated. Thirty residents also had to evacuate do to flooding concerns.
Taylor county reported minor flood surge with water making it barely over seawall, but wind damage accounted for $6,662,381 of damage from poles, lines, etc. from tree damage according to Tri-County Electric.
According to the NWS Tallahassee report, a 0.2% annual chance occurrence flood even took place. This is what we would call a 500-year flood event. So there is a 1 in 500 chance of this type of flooding to occur each year, and it did in Madison County.
Voluntary evacuations were in place for those in homes without foundation, flood prone areas and substandard homes. 100 homes were damaged by debris or flooding, and power outages lasted 3-4 days. A trained spotter estimates wind gusts from 75 to 90 mph in southwest Madison County.
Leon County had 6 evacuation centers open. 55,000 were without power with only minor reports of damage reported by FSU.
Gadsden County had over 1,300 power outages with no major damage reported.
Franklin County had mandatory evacuations for barrier islands with impacts being minimal besides a few small trees and power lines down.
Above you can click through more local reports of wind gusts, water levels, and rain totals from Hurricane Debby as provided by the NWS Tallahassee report. You can find this information and more here.
