Tropical Storm Debby has moved menacingly into some of America's most historic Southern cities, reports the , bringing prolonged downpours and flooding Tuesday after slamming into Florida and prompting the rescue of hundreds. Record-setting rain from the storm that killed at least five people in Florida and Georgia was causing flash flooding, with up to 25 inches possible in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning. "Hunker down," Van Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, told residents Monday night.
"Expect that it will be a rough day" Tuesday, he said. The storm's center was just southwest of Savannah early Tuesday with maximum sustained winds near 45mph and it was moving northeast at less than 6mph. "Tropical cyclones always produce heavy rain, but normally as they're moving, you know, it doesn't accumulate that much in one place," Richard Pasch of the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning.
"But when they move very slowly, that's the worst situation." Tropical cyclones derive their energy from warm water, so Debby has weakened over land. The storm's center is expected to move out over the water off the Georgia and South Carolina coast, then move back inland, so it could restrengthen Wednesday before it moves inland Thursday over South Carolina.
Flash flood warnings were issued in Savannah and Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Savannah and Charleston announced overnight curfews. Charleston .