Over 200,000 Florida homes and businesses lost power within the first hour after Hurricane Debby touched down on Monday morning. As of Monday afternoon, nearly 300,000 Floridians were without power.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Debby touched down around 7 a.m. in Steinhatchee, which is a town located in the Big Bend region of northern Florida. The hurricane was labeled as a Category 1 storm with sustained winds reaching as high as 80 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
While 200,000 Floridians lost power in the first hour of the hurricane, the Poweroutage.US website showed that nearly 300,000 Florida homes and businesses were without power as of Monday afternoon.
According to Fox Business, the major storm initially impacted Florida and did not appear to cause significant problems for other states. However, weather officials have warned that the storm is moving northeast at roughly 10 mph and that the hurricane is expected to impact both Georgia and South Carolina.
READ MORE: 8 killed, 2.3 million without power due to major hurricane
The National Hurricane Center warned that Hurricane Debby could cause “potentially historic heavy rainfall across southeast Georgia and the coastal plain of South Carolina through Saturday morning” and that it would likely cause “catastrophic flooding.”
The National Hurricane Center warned that there is a “danger of life-threatening storm surge along portions of the Gulf Coast of Florida” and that “dangerous storm surge and wind impacts” are expected to impact regions throughout the southeast coast of the United States from Florida to North Carolina until the middle of the week. The National Hurricane Center also noted that tropical storm watches and storm surge warnings were in effect for the affected regions.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) released a statement on Sunday, prior to the hurricane touching down in Florida. The Republican governor addressed the likelihood of power outages and gave residents instructions regarding the safe operation of generators during the tropical storm.
“We appreciate all the utility linemen, from Florida and out-of-state, who are staged and ready to respond to Tropical Storm Debby. They will be working around the clock to restore your power quickly and safely as soon as weather conditions allow,” DeSantis stated. “If your power goes out, stay safe by running your portable generator outside at least 20 feet away from your home on a flat, dry surface.”
