By: Lauren Wu

On August 5, 2024, a tropical storm heading to Florida became a hurricane, Hurricane Debby, going at 80 miles per hour. Citizens in Florida were told to evacuate as the governor of Florida, Governor Ron Desantis activated more than 3,000 members of the state National Guard to help people prepare for the storm. Fifteen counties had mandatory or voluntary evacuations since those counties’ citizens were threatened by high waves and flooding.

Officials in Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina activated emergency resources. They brought those resources to shelters and urged people in low coastal areas to evacuate, as the hurricane, called Hurricane Debby, would threaten many lives with its storm surges. North of Tampa, in Hernando County, voluntary evacuations on August 3, 2024 began, where citizens could evacuate to West Hernando Middle School, which served as a shelter.

Hurricane Debby was forecasted to create six to twelve inches of rain in Florida. In Georgia and South Carolina, rainfall was forecasted to be 10 to 20 inches. In 2023, Hurricane Idalia, a category three hurricane, landed in the same region as Hurricane Debby. It brought waves up to 12 feet along the coast. It was the worst storm ever in the Big Bend, the curve of Florida’s peninsula around the Gulf of Mexico.

In May of 2024, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted an above average number of storms for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, with 17 to 25 storms expected. Debby is the fourth named storm so far. Since storms could happen at any moment, citizens need to be prepared. Most of the time, staying in a designated storm shelter will keep you safe.

Link- https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/04/weather/florida-tropical-storm-debby.html

Link-https://www.axios.com/2024/08/05/hurricane-debby-florida-georgia-south-carolina