Tropical Storm Debby makes second landfall in South Carolina, bringing rain, tornadoes

Tropical Storm Debby made its second landfall Thursday in South Carolina as it continues to batter the East Coast with heavy rains and strong winds.

Debby made landfall near Bulls Bay, S.C., early Thursday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHS). It is expected to continue moving inland and could bring severe flooding and strong storms all the way up through the Northeast this weekend.

“Heavy rainfall across portions of the Carolinas is expected to persist through today along with areas of considerable flooding,” the NHC said in its forecast. “Heavy rainfall will also result in considerable flooding impacts across portions of the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeast through Saturday morning.”

The National Weather Service in Charleston said officials confirmed four tornadoes in the area Wednesday as a result of the storm. As of Thursday morning, more than 7,000 households are without power in South Carolina, and more than 137,000 have outages in North Carolina, according to poweroutage.us.

Debby first made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane but has since weakened into a tropical storm. It killed five people in Florida and briefly left more than 100,000 households without power.

The center said that the storm currently has sustained winds of 45 mph, keeping it in the tropical storm category. Officials noted that they expect the storm to continue weakening in the coming days.

The National Weather Service (NWS) also warned that the storm could bring an additional 4 to 8 inches of rainfall with locally higher amounts across southeastern North Carolina. The maximum rainfall could be up to 15 inches in some places, according to the service.

The NWS added that tropical storm conditions will affect parts of the coastal Carolinas through Thursday and that flooding in the area due to the storm surge is possible.

The storm will also affect the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states. Maryland, Upstate New York and Vermont can expect to see 2 to 6 inches of rain through Friday, per the NWS.