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Debby Moves East, But Floods and Danger Stay in Panhandle

Flooded road
Jessica Palombo
/
WFSU-FM

Debby has been downgraded from a tropical storm to a tropical depression, and she continues her slow, eastward trek across Northern and Central Florida. The storm is bringing flash floods and the threat of tornadoes to major cities like Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville. After Debby formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, many areas have been drenched for days by torrential rains. And rivers continue to rise and displace people from their homes.

The Florida Panhandle has been one of the hardest hit areas. Days of steady rain and storm surge from the gulf have left standing water over Interstate highways here.

On Tuesday, Florida Governor Rick Scott visited coastal Wakulla County, which had received about two feet of rain over the past three days.

“We’ve had a lot of flooding, as you know, in our rivers here, and there’s been the surge close to the gulf, so we’ve had a lot of issues," he said.

As of Tuesday, about 20 evacuees remained in a shelter here. And while most of the rain has moved off to the east of this area, state meteorologist Michelle Palmer says still-flooded roadways can kill drivers.

 “We encourage everyone, if you see a flooded roadway to turn around. You know that saying 'Turn around, don’t drown,' and that’s fact. You don’t know if that roadway underneath the water is washed out," she says.

One of those waterlogged roads goes through the town of Panacea, where Susan Pafford waits tables at the Coastal Restaurant. On Monday night, when she got done with her shift, the road home had disappeared beneath a quick-moving water current. But she just kept pushing through it.

“Yes ma’am, but you just go really, really slow and keep going," she says.  “I drive a Ford F-150 pick-up truck, thank goodness.”

Forecasters say Debby will hang around on land at least until Thursday, when she’s expected to make her exit into the Atlantic Ocean near Daytona Beach. But Florida Emergency Management Director Bryan Koon says Debby will continue being a threat even after she leaves the state.

 “The smaller rivers are going to be cresting over the next couple of days. Those are going to be flowing into the larger rivers, so we’re going to be having some flooding, river flooding issues for the next week or two," he says.

With rain saturating the ground, sinkholes have popped up across the state, some dangerously close to houses. And many bridges and roadways remain closed as residents watch river levels rise.