Hurricane Debby makes landfall in northern Florida as Category 1 storm

Hurricane Debby has made landfall in northern Florida as a Category 1 storm.

The US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said Debby has maximum sustained winds of 80mph.

The storm made landfall in Steinhatchee, a tiny community of less than 1,000 residents in the Big Bend area of Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Forecasters warned heavy rain could spawn catastrophic flooding in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.

Debby is the fourth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.

Nearly 214,000 customers were without power in Florida on Monday morning, according to PowerOutage.com.

A tornado watch also was in effect for parts of Florida and Georgia on Monday.

The sparsely populated Big Bend region in the Florida Panhandle also was hit last year by Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane.

The National Weather Service in Tallahassee said heavy flooding was the biggest concern in the Big Bend regions, with storm surge expected across Apalachee Bay.

In Marion County, which is inland and south of Gainesville, sheriff’s officials noted in a Facebook post on Monday that crews were responding to reports of downed power lines and trees that have fallen on roadways and homes.

Debby was expected to move eastward over northern Florida and then stall over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina, thrashing the region with potential record-setting rains totalling up to 30in beginning on Tuesday.

Officials also warned of life-threatening storm surge along Florida’s Gulf Coast, with 6ft to 10ft of inundation expected on Monday between the Ochlockonee and Suwannee rivers.

Flooding could last through Friday and is expected to be especially severe in low-lying areas near the coast, including Savannah, Georgia; Hilton Head, South Carolina; and Charleston, South Carolina. North Carolina officials are monitoring the storm’s progress.