Millions of people in the Northeast and New England are seeing a significant flood threat as what’s left of Tropical Storm Debby gets set to race across the region at the end of the workweek.
ALBANY, N.Y. – Florida, the Southeast and the mid-Atlantic have all felt the wrath of Tropical Storm Debby, and now millions of people across the Northeast and New England are bracing for potentially life-threatening flooding as the deadly storm gets set to blast the waterlogged region with torrential rain late this week.
The slow-moving storm first made landfall along Florida’s Big Bend region on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane and slowly made its way to the northeast, dropping historic amounts of rain across the region, as well as producing damaging wind gusts that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of utility customers.
Hurricane Debby approached Florida’s Big Bend area as a Category 1 storm Monday morning. Early footage from Cedar Key illustrates the significant threat of storm surge from this tropical cyclone.
At least five people have been killed because of Debby’s impacts, and countless water rescues needed to be conducted due to the flooding caused by both heavy rain and storm surge, which sent water flowing into coastal communities from Florida to the Carolinas.
Although the tropical storm is still sitting and spinning off the South Carolina coast, preparations are underway hundreds of miles to the north in communities that have already been hit hard by flooding over the past several weeks.
TRACKING DEBBY: FORECAST CONE, PATH, LIVE CONDITIONS, RAINFALL TOTALS AND MORE
Significant flood risk has millions on alert across Northeast, New England
The exclusive FOX Model Futuretrack shows heavy rain from Tropical Storm Debby pushing into the Northeast and New England at the end of the workweek.
The FOX Forecast Center said that on Friday, Debby, which will be quickly transitioning from a tropical storm to a post-tropical storm will begin to push through interior portions of the Northeast.
The extreme amounts of tropical moisture still being produced by the storm, combined with a dip in the jet stream off to the west, are expected to produce heavy precipitation from the central Appalachians through the interior Northeast and northern New England.
This is not good news for many locations, as the region remains extremely saturated from previous rounds of heavy rain over the past several weeks.
(FOX Weather)
Through Sunday, many locations in Pennsylvania and parts of New York state could see an additional 3-5 inches of rain as what’s left of Debby races through the region.
Most areas, however, could see 2-3 inches with locally higher amounts.
Higher rainfall totals are expected farther south, while areas to the north will see lower amounts.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE REVAMPS FLOOD ALERTS
This graphic shows the flood threat in the Northeast on Friday, Aug. 9, 2024.
(FOX Weather)
Because of that, NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center (WPC) placed more than 8 million people from Pennsylvania to Vermont in a Level 3 out of 4 flood risk on Friday.
The Level 3 zone includes cities such as Scranton in Pennsylvania, Syracuse, Binghamton and Albany in New York and Burlington in Vermont.
New York City and Philadelphia, which experienced rounds of torrential rain, flooding and severe weather on Tuesday, have been placed in a Level 2 flood threat.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE FOX WEATHER APP
Northeast slammed by recent rounds of heavy rain, severe weather
Flash Flood Warning for Manhattan and the Bronx.
(NYC Emergency Management / FOX Weather)
On Tuesday evening, parts of New York City saw intense flooding along highways and roadways after strong thunderstorms moved through the area.
And that was the second day of extreme weather in the Northeast.
On Monday, a waterspout came ashore in downtown Buffalo, New York, and caused damage in the city.
National Weather Service video shows a waterspout coming onshore into downtown Buffalo, New York on Monday ripping part of a roof of a building on Niagara Street.
There were several damaged buildings and traffic lights without power after the twister, but no one was injured, according to police.
After an initial survey, the National Weather Service in Buffalo confirmed the tornado was an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with a maximum wind speed of 90 mph. The twister became a land vortex at Interstate 190 and Niagara Street and ended near Tupper and Oak streets.
Vermont braces for impact after catastrophic flooding in July
Residents in Lyndonville and St. Johnsbury recount stories of experiencing the latest flood event to impact Vermont.
Farther north, residents in Vermont are holding their breath and hoping for the best after several rounds of catastrophic flooding in July.
Flash Flood Emergencies were issued in Vermont at the end of July after heavy rain forced water from rivers and streams to rush into communities such as St. Johnsbury and Lyndonville.
More than 8 inches of rain was reported in St. Johnsbury in one night, and flooding washed away homes, bridges and roads across the region.