Debby is headed back out to sea, where it will refuel

Firefighters from Savannah Fire wade into floodwaters to deliver food to residents stuck in their homes amid flooding after Tropical Storm Debbie came through Savannah, Ga., on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024. (Dustin Chambers/The New York Times)

By Amanda Holpuch, Rachel Nostrant and Judson Jones

The mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, extended the city’s curfew for another day, and officials warned people living near a stressed dam southwest of Walterboro, South Carolina, to evacuate on Tuesday as Tropical Storm Debby crawled across the Southeastern United States for a second day. The former hurricane could dump more than 2 feet of rain on coastal cities in Georgia and the Carolinas by the end of the week.

Debby’s center was forecast to drift offshore later Tuesday, refueling with additional moisture from the Atlantic Ocean, and then meander near the South Carolina coast before making a second landfall sometime on Thursday. Governors in Georgia and the Carolinas declared states of emergency and warned residents to prepare for potentially catastrophic flooding, including in places that have never seen rising water before.

Here is what else to know:

— Flooding fears: Some of Debby’s worst impacts in Florida were felt not on the coast but hundreds of miles away, in more densely populated Gulf Coast cities, as high tides further swelled flooding rivers and forced evacuations and emergency rescues. After Debby moves back out to sea, storm surge from the Atlantic could further swell coastal rivers, increasing the flood risk.

— Fatalities in Florida and Georgia: The storm, which made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds on Florida’s Big Bend coast, was blamed for four deaths in the state. Three people died in traffic accidents, and a child was killed when a tree fell on a home. In Georgia, a 19-year-old man was also killed by a falling tree.

— Another hit on Cedar Key: Howling wind and waves crashed high on the fishing pier in Cedar Key, a chain of tiny islands 3 miles into the Gulf of Mexico, as Hurricane Debby slammed ashore. The storm hit the same part of the Big Bend coast where Hurricane Idalia, a more powerful Category 3 storm, made landfall less than a year ago.

— Climate’s role: Hurricanes have become more destructive over time, in no small part because of the influences of a warming planet. Climate change is producing more powerful storms that generate heavier rainfall and flooding. But humans also make storm damage more extensive by continuing to build in vulnerable parts of the coast.