CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Tropical Storm Debby drenched coastal cities in Georgia and South Carolina, stirred up tornadoes and submerged streets with waist-high floodwaters Tuesday in what is just the beginning of a prolonged storm that could dump staggering rain totals of up to 25 inches (64 centimeters).
Charleston and Savannah took the first blow, with up to a foot (30 centimeters) of rain falling along the coast between the two cities in just over 24 hours. Police blocked all the roads into Charleston’s downtown peninsula as a precaution. Dozens of roads were closed in the historic city because of flooding similar to what it sees several times a year because of rising sea levels.
As Debby swirls just offshore, the heavy rain is expected to move north into parts of South Carolina and North Carolina that have already seen two billion-dollar floods in eight years. In one Savannah neighborhood, firefighters used boats Tuesday afternoon to evacuate some residents and waded in waist-deep in floodwaters to deliver bottled water and supplies to others who refused to leave. Michael Jones said downpours sent water gushing into his home Monday evening, overturning the refrigerator and causing furniture to float.
Outside, the water seemed to be everywhere and was too deep to flee safely. So Jones spent a sleepless night on his kitchen table before firefighters going door-to-door came to his home in a boat Tuesday morning. “It was hell all night,” Jones said.
He added: “It was.