After raking the Florida peninsula, Category 1 Hurricane Debby made her final approach with a landfall near Taylor and Dixie counties in the eastern Big Bend.
Though last year's Hurricane Idalia was a Category 3, the similarities are eerie. Debby hit with 80 mph winds mere miles from where Idalia came ashore and at about the same time.
Like before, Florida's capital appears to have dodged a bullet, leaving its eastern neighbors to bear the brunt of dangerous winds, life-threatening surge and untold amounts of rain.
However, forecasters warned that Tallahassee could still see tropical storm force gusts along with downed trees and power lines as Debby pushes through and brings expected "catastrophic rains to the southeast" before a second landfall.
Here's the latest:
City of Tallahassee utilities: 'Substantial restoration' made
"Crews have made substantial restoration progress overnight and throughout the day, joined by crews from Alabama and Louisiana. We experienced over 35,000 outages and have restored power to 33,216 customers," the city said in a news release.
"We expect to be 99% restored by 10 p.m., within 24 hours of storm impacts. Crews will continue to work through the night to address remaining scattered outages."
Storm shelters shutting down in Leon County
"As of now, all shelters have been closed down with the exception of SAIL High School, where there are 11 people waiting for power to be restored before they return to their homes," the Leon County Schools X account posted Monday afternoon.
"The Red Cross will take over operations at 6:00 p.m. and the Leon Sheriff's Department will provide security overnight if needed. The shelter will close at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. Thank you to StarMetro for aiding with transportation."
DeSantis gives latest storm update
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis returns to the state Emergency Operations Center to deliver a 3:30 p.m. storm update.
WATCH A REPLAY BELOW.
Levy County Sheriff's Office: 13-year-old boy killed by tree as Debby made landfall
As Hurricane Debby was making landfall early Monday, a 13-year-old boy died when a tree fell on a mobile home, according to a news release from the Levy County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies and other first responders arrived around 8 a.m. to a Fanning Springs address. The boy was inside; no one else was injured.
Sheriff Bobby McCallum “responded to the scene personally and is with the family,” the release said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with this family as they deal with this tragedy,” it added. “We encourage everyone to use extreme caution as they begin to assess and clean up the damage.
“Downed power lines and falling trees are among the many hazards. One life is too many. Please be safe.”
Three Florida counties are completely in the dark
According to our Power Outage Tracker, at least three counties in the path of then Hurricane Debby are completely off the grid. The counties of Jefferson (8,777 customers), Taylor (13,991) and Suwannee (25,013) are 100% without power.
Madison, Hamilton and Dixie aren't fairing much better. Madison is 95% in the dark with Hamilton at 83.7% and Lafayette at 80.9%. Dixie isn't far behind with 79.8% powerless. Gilchrist is at 63% and Columbia at 51%.
In Leon County, 9.4% of customers are in the dark (12,456 customers of 132,015 total). According to the city of Tallahassee's outage map, about 4,000 customers are still disconnected from the power grid.
All told, more than 250,000 are still without power in the Sunshine State.
A post-Hurricane Debby dining guide
Looking for a hot meal that you didn't cook? It may not be easy after the storm kept many businesses closed.
To help ease the frustration that comes with driving around looking for whose doors are open, the Tallahassee Democrat has compiled a short list of establishments serving hot food on Monday.
Of course, if you are heading out to eat, know that the area remains under a tropical storm warning until 10:30 p.m. It was just extended at 2 p.m. So drive safely.
Click here to see the list.
City of Tallahassee: 7,500 without power
The city of Tallahassee's latest storm report, received via text message at 1:06 p.m., says "electric crews continue working to restore power to approximately 7,500 customers currently without power following Hurricane Debby.
"Additional mutual aid resources from Louisiana have arrived in Tallahassee and are actively working to replace broken utility poles. City crews with support from mutual aid resources have restored power to over 24,000 customers and will continue working. For updates on power restoration efforts, go to Talgov.com."
Leon County administrator provides updates
In a memo to county commissioners, Leon County Administrator Vince Long shared the following highlights, among others:
- "At this time, we are experiencing the distant rain bands from Hurricane Debby and sustained winds of about 20 miles per hour with gusts near 40 miles per hour. At this time, about 40 trees have fallen onto or near roadways and County and City Public Works crews immediately clear them."
- "Leon County has been very fortunate this storm—we will not experience widespread, significant impacts from Hurricane Debby."
- "NOAA has issued its highest flood outlook for the coming days, warning of dangerous storm surge, strong winds, and possible tornadoes. Flooding is exacerbated by onshore winds preventing floodwaters from draining towards the ocean, causing catastrophic conditions in some areas."
- "All Leon County risk shelters will remain open until 4 p.m. After that time, any persons remaining in our shelters will be transported toand welcomed at SAIL High School, 2006 Jackson Bluff Road. At this time, we expect no more than 30 evacuees to remain in Leon County overnight. SAIL High School will remain open until Tuesday, August 6 when American Red Cross will then open a host shelter ... At its peak, Leon County Schools facilities sheltered 98 citizens .... In comparison, the County previously sheltered more than 3,000 people during Hurricane Irma (2017)."
For the full memo, click here.
I-10 blocked after wreck
Interstate 10 westbound is blocked around mile marker 234 near Monticello after a "vehicle crash," according to the Florida Highway Patrol's Live Traffic Crash & Road Condition Report.
Check back later for more details.
Debby downgrade: It's back to a tropical storm
The National Weather Service-Tallahassee released this update as of 11:35 a.m. Highlights include:
- Debby is now a Tropical Storm
- Hurricane Warnings have been replaced with Tropical Storm Warnings
- Tropical Storm Warning dropped for Gulf County
- Storm Surge Warning dropped for Franklin County
- Storm Surge values have adjusted slightly: 4 to 6 feet from Suwanee River to Aucilla, 2 to 4 feet from the Aucilla River to Ochlocknee River, 1 to 3 feet from Ochlocknee River to Indian Pass
"Tropical Storm Debby remains over the Florida Big Bend and will continue to track east/northeast toward the FL/GA border this afternoon. The worst impacts should occur along and east of the track with heavyflooding rains being the primary concern."
Dateline Perry, Florida: A lower blow than Hurricane Idalia
In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Debby, Perry was a ghost town.
Most of the businesses remained closed as of 10:30 a.m., with power out across the community.
People largely either remained in their houses or drove by in their cars, no doubt because any other option would leave them drenched in rain.
The area saw its fair share of damage — downed trees and power lines mixed with occasional damaged roofs. But it seemed minimal when compared with the stunning shredding Perry took during Hurricane Idalia less than a year.
Measuring Debby's bluster
Hurricane Debby is leaving her mark at weather stations across north Florida and even in inland areas.
The highest official gust on record may have come out of inland Mayo in Lafayette County at 70 mph. A WeaterStem station at Madison County High School measured winds of 62 mph. A 50 mph gust was recorded in Monticello with a 44 mph gust at Tallahassee International Airport and a 47 mph gust at Florida A&M University.
On the coast, an Alligator Point weatherflow station recorded winds that gusted to 54 mph. Cedar Key clocked a 66 mph gust and the St. Mark's Lighthouse saw 50 mph winds.
Expect tropical storm conditions for hours in Tallahassee as crews work to restore power
City of Tallahassee officials expect that the capital city may be buffeted with tropical storm force conditions over the next 5 to 7 hours "with up to 40-50 mph wind gusts and continuous rainfall as Hurricane Debby moves through our area."
A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect until 7:30 p.m. Generally the city should see sustained winds of 10-20 mph with gusts to 35 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
"Electric crews continue to work to restore power and have restored 10,500 customers," the city wrote in a text alert sent to resident. "Approximately 12,600 customers are currently without power."
Line crews are also replacing a power pole after a truck collided with a power pole at Miccosukee & Miles Johnson roads. The driver was on his way to work and was uninjured.
"Wet roads and windy conditions aren't a great match," the city wrote on Facebook.
Already, mutual aid line crews from Alabama are assisting Tallahassee crews. They will soon be joined by Louisiana reinforcements.
Taylor County urges residents to stay indoors
Taylor County Emergency Management and the county sheriff’s office are asking residents to stay indoors because of downed trees and powerlines in Perry and throughout Taylor County.
“Please don’t put yourself at risk,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post at 9:30 a.m.
More than 13K electric customers without power in Leon County; state of Florida total tops 300K
Nearly 308,000 electric customers across North and Central Florida were in the dark as of 9 a.m., according to the Public Service Commission.
In Leon County, 13,289 customers, most with Talquin Electric Cooperative, were without power. Some 10,545 Talquin customers were offline, while the number of city of Tallahassee customers without power was down tow 2,744. More than 91% of customers countywide in Leon had power as of 9 a.m.
By 10 a.m., about 12,000 Tallahassee Utilities' customers were out of power in 224 outages, according to the city's power outage map.
Jefferson and Lafayette counties remained largely without power. More than 87% of customers in Jefferson County and 78% in Lafayette County were without power.
Flooding from Debby could last 5-10 days
Gov. Ron DeSantis and Kevin Guthrie, head of the state’s Division of Emergency Management, appeared at 7:30 a.m. at the state’s emergency operations center with an update on the Category 1 hurricane that landed in Steinhatchee, a fishing village on the state's Nature Coast.
Guthrie said flooding will be an ongoing issue, perhaps for up to 10 days after Hurricane Debby makes its way through north Florida.
Read full story here.
Little tree debris seen on Tallahassee roads
Compared to previous storms, there was minimal tree debris on canopy roads and city streets in Tallahassee Monday morning as Hurricane Debby plowed into the Big Bend south of the city.
Traffic was light on Centerville and Miccosukee roads between 7 and 8 a.m. The two tree-lined roads are main arteries from the northeast suburbs.
While Debby is mostly following the path of Idalia when it made landfall south of Perry last August, the storm is having much less of an impact on Tallahassee.
Idalia made much of the city’s 78 miles of canopy roads impassable. Leon County collected 22,000 cubic yards of debris after Idalia, more than 400 dump truck full of downed trees.
Monday morning, however, Debby’s tree debris amounted to an occasional branch on Centerville and scatterings of twigs and clumps of Spanish moss along Call Street and Park Avenue downtown.
Wreck killed two in Florida as Debby approached; FHP says victims from Crawfordville
A woman and a boy died in a single-vehicle crash in Dixie County on Sunday night, the eve of Hurricane Debby’s landfall, according to a law enforcement report.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers arrived at the scene of the crash — U.S. 19, just north of 483rd Avenue — around 9:30 p.m. where both the 38-year-old woman and the 12-year-old were pronounced dead.
A 14-year-old boy was seriously injured and taken to UF Health to be treated. All three involved were from Crawfordville in Wakulla County.
Witnesses told the Florida Highway Patrol that the car lost control “due to inclement weather and wet roadway.”
“After losing control, the vehicle struck the guardrail in the center median, then redirected, overturning, leaving the roadway to the right,” FHP said.
The crash is currently under investigation.
Leon County Public Works, ambulances responding normally to calls as Debby pushes onshore to the east
Leon County Emergency Management officials said residents shouldn’t let their guard down after Hurricane Debby made landfall well to the east.
Debby made landfall at 7 a.m. this morning near Steinhatchee, a small fishing hamlet in southern Taylor County. With that track, the “heavier weather impacts” will be to the east, said Kevin Peters, director of Leon County Emergency Management.
“We’re being told by the National Weather Service that our rainfall forecast is more along the lines of 1 to 2 inches of rain,” Peters said. “And currently the winds that we’ve seen have been around 20 mph sustained, with gusts near 40 mph. With the storm moving away on that more easterly track, we would not expect to see those get too much stronger than that.”
Peters said there have been no major reports of damage and that crews have cleared a few fallen trees that blocked roadways. Conditions have been safe enough for other critical crews to be out in the field.
“Our ambulances and our Public Works crews are still responding to every call for service and every downed tree,” said Matt Cavell, director of Community Relations and Resilience.
Peters urged people to be careful, especially on the roadways.
“The roads are wet,” he said. “People need to use caution just as they would in any rainstorm. Due to those gusty winds, we may still see trees down or tree limbs that break and may fall on power lines and roadways. We will have the rain hanging around for a bit and things will continue to be breezy.”
Power outages in Tallahassee down to 3,000
Electric crews worked through the night, trying to restore nearly 7,000 power outages.
Shortly after landfall, the City of Tallahassee said roughly 3,000 customers were still without power. Residents should expect more outages throughout the day as Hurricane Debby creeps closer to the capital.
“Crews will continue to work as conditions allow,” the city said in an email.
'Stinging rain ... hammering Perry'
Reporter Douglas Soule in Perry reports at 7:30 a.m.:
"Forceful winds and strong, stinging rain are hammering Perry as the eye wall grinds through the area. The gusts threaten to knock over broadcast reporters’ cameras – and the reporters themselves.
"The power is out at a hotel many journalists are staying at, and water is puddling through some of the first floor doors."
Evacuees shelter at Leon County Schools
As Hurricane Debby makes landfall, 98 people are sheltering at six campuses of the Leon County School District, according to a post on X.
Debby makes landfall at 7 a.m. near Steinhatchee
Hurricane Debby has made landfall near Steinhatchee, Florida, the National Hurricane Center says in its 7 a.m. update. That's just 45 minutes and ten miles shy of where and when Hurricane Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 in late August 2023.
"Data from the Hurricane Hunters indicate that the minimum pressure at landfall was around 979 mb and the maximum winds were estimated to be around 80 mph," forecasters wrote in the update.
Editor's note – Forecasters later corrected their previous tropical cyclone report from Tallahassee International Airport. "The Tallahassee airport gusted to 39 mph," they said.
Debby will make landfall near Steinhatchee, mere miles from where Idalia came ashore
"Hurricane Debby will make landfall in eastern Taylor County just west of the town of Steinhatchee," according to WeatherTiger meteorologist Ryan Truchelut, who writes forecasts for the USA TODAY NETWORK. "Remarkably, that's only about 10 miles southeast of where Category 3 Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Keaton Beach less than one year ago."
The small town of Steinhatchee holds an outsized role in hurricane lore, though we are well past "Steinhatchee Season" – so-named because June storms tend to exhibit a bizarre attraction to the Gulf fishing village of Steinhatchee.
The community was also hammered by Hurricane Idalia, a late August storm, which brought in what longtime resident called an unstoppable storm surge that flooded building and swallowed docks.
Keaton Beach resident had just repaired his home from Idalia. Then Debby came calling
Repairs on Spyridon Aibejeris’ Keaton Beach house were only just completed.
“Like, two weeks ago,” he said, before a powerful gust of wind and rain interrupted his interview with a USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida reporter.
He and his family rode out Hurricane Idalia last year in the same Perry hotel he stood in front of early Monday morning, waiting for yet another hurricane to bear down on Florida – and his house.
“Man, I’ve done this so many times. You just go back and see what you’ve got to do,” said Aibejeris, who owns a campground near his house that was also damaged by Idalia.
“I hope I don’t have to go back to that again,” he added.
Gust of 98 mph reported in Horseshoe Beach
The Florida Severe Weather Network, a collection of state-run weather stations, has just recorded an unconfirmed 98 mph gust near Horseshoe Beach. If the name Horseshoe Beach seems familiar, you likely read about it in our Hurricane Idalia coverage here.
Read about how the small community grappled with Idalia in the wake of the storm.
Meanwhile, the top gust at Tallahassee Airport is 39 mph.
Radar shows eyewall on shore with Debby just 65 miles from Tallahassee
Doppler radar images from Tallahassee indicate Debby is close to making landfall in the Florida Big Bend region.
The northern and eastern portions of the eyewall are already onshore and the hurricane will be making landfall later this morning. Debby is located 65 miles SSE of Tallahassee.
She is packing 80 mph winds and moving NNE at 10 mph.
"Hurricane Debby is poised to make landfall later this morning at the Taylor-Dixie Coast," the National Weather Service of Tallahassee wrote. "Worst impacts should be along/east of the track with heavy flooding rains being the biggest concern. Storm surge is also expected across Apalachee Bay."
The slowing storm is also posing a particular threat.
"The slow NNE motion with occasional eye wobbles may prolong landfall/storm surge for another few hours before gradually tracking inland where strong winds + flooding rains are expected," NWS wrote.
Power outages surging as Debby nears
As Hurricane Debby closes in and blows by the city of Tallahassee, power outages are starting to stack up. As of about 6 a.m., the City of Tallahassee Utilities Outage Map is showing that about 3,500 customers are in the dark in 61 outages.
The power outages began in the early evening after the first rain band pushed through, but by about midnight Sunday most homes and businesses were restored.
Meanwhile, 177,447 customers are out of power through the state of Florida, according to the Tallahassee Democrat's Power Outage Tracker. Almost half of customers in Jefferson County and Suwanee County are out of power at this hour.
Leon County has more than 7,500 who are powerless, or about 6% of total accounts in the county.
Reporting from Perry as Hurricane Debby nears
The USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida has a reporter stationed in Perry, Florida, in advance of Hurricane Debby’s landfall.
Douglas Soule, a Tallahassee-based journalist, is currently standing at the entrance of a hotel, waiting in ramping-up rain and wind with other journalists and storm chasers.
He covered Hurricane Idalia in 2023 from Cedar Key and Suwannee.
"It’s pouring, but the loudest sound is the whipped branches of the surrounding trees,"
One injury reported as Debby approaches Big Bend landfall
One injury related to Hurricane Debby occurred around 2 a.m. Monday in Newberry, according to the National Weather Service storm reports. The person was injured when a tree came down and caused a traffic crash on State Road 45.
There were also numerous reports of tornadoes Sunday night in the Columbia County area. Twisters were reported on the ground near the Lake City Airpark and Worthington Springs.
Numerous Florida counties remain under a tornado watch until 6 a.m., including Jefferson, Madison and Taylor counties and coastal waters from Keaton Beach to the Ochlockonee River. Leon County is not currently under a tornado watch.
Debby 'very near' landfall, expected to bring life-threatening storm surge and major flooding
Hurricane Debby was "very near landfall" along the eastern Big Bend coast and expected to bring life-threatening storm surge and major flooding as it moves on shore.
The National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. update that Debby was located about 45 miles northwest of Cedar Key and about 70 miles south-southeast of Tallahassee. It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and was moving north-northeast at 10 mph.
A hurricane warning was in effect along the coast from Yankeetown to Indian Pass in Gulf County. Storm surge warnings were also in place, with 6-10 inches of surge possible from Yankeetown to the Ochlockonee River.
"This is a life-threatening situation. Persons located within these areas should take all necessary actions to protect life and property from rising water and the potential for other dangerous conditions," the Hurricane Center said.
Tallahassee likely to escape brunt of Hurricane Debby
Hurricane Debby appears to be headed for landfall southeast of Tallahassee, putting towns like Perry, Cross City, Mayo and Madison in the crosshairs.
However, forecasters warned that Tallahassee could still see tropical storm force winds, along with downed trees and power outages.
"We're not on the dirty side of the storm," said Israel Gonzalez, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee. "But we're still looking at a decent combination of rain and winds. We have some of those outer bands that have been spreading steadily inland into the eastern Big Bend, and we're kind of on the fringe of those bands there."
The highest wind gust recorded at Tallahassee International Airport was around 40 mph, Gonzalez said. Debby is producing sustained winds in the Capital City around 15 mph.
He said Tallahassee could see rainfall amounts of around 2 inches from Debby.
"If you overlay that with the strong winds ... that can certainly be more than enough to cause trees to topple over, get on top of a power line and cause an outage," Gonzalez said.
As of about 4:45 a.m., the city of Tallahassee was reporting 55 outage orders affecting only about 546 customers.
Debby's eye wall grazing Florida's coast near Taylor, Dixie counties
Hurricane Debby's eyewall is grazing Florida's coast near Taylor and Dixie counties as it nears landfall, according to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.
"It's knocking on the door of landfall," said Israel Gonzalez, NWS meteorologist, "because if you look at radar, the eye wall is grazing the coast right now. But the eye is still slightly offshore, so ... we can't consider that landfall yet."
Gonzalez said that Debby is expected to make landfall around Dixie and Taylor county and that the core of the storm could pass through an area that includes Perry, Madison and Mayo.
"The concavity of the Nature Coastline makes the pin-down of the timing of the landfall a little bit difficult, especially with those eye wobbles that we've been seeing all night," Gonzalez said. "On top of that, it's overall motion has been gradually slowing down as its kind of crawled its way into Apalachee Bay."
Leon County remains under a tropical storm warning, though points to the south and east remain under a hurricane warning.
Hurricane Debby nearing landfall in Florida's Big Bend
The National Hurricane Center said in a 4 a.m. update that Debby is nearing landfall this morning in the Big Bend.
"Doppler radar images from Tallahassee indicate that Debby is nearing landfall and the eastern portion of the eyewall is moving onshore in the Florida Big Bend," the Hurricane Center in Miami said.
An observation in Cedar Key recorded a sustained wind of 50 mph and a gust of 66 mph, according to NHC.
As of 4 a.m., Debby was located about 40 miles west-northwest of Cedar Key and about 80 miles south-southeast of Tallahassee. It had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and was moving north-northeast at 12 mph.
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
