Here’s what this blog is not about: Heat. That’s the only time I will use those four letters, so go ahead and get it out of your mind.
For today, let’s head to Florida. There is lots of weather happening in the Sunshine State, thanks to
Tropical Storm Debby.
Debby made landfall
not too long ago near Steinhatchee, Fla., near where the Panhandle meets the rest of Florida. But its effects have been felt up and down the Gulf Coast for several days now.
Some places of Florida experienced between 10 and 20 inches of rain just yesterday. Tornadoes have been reported. Flooding is widespread.
And Debby has really just sat there. Spinning and spinning and moving at about 3 mph to the east. So, basically not moving at all.
It’s pace has picked up and it looks like it will cross Florida as a tropical depression and then regain strength in the Atlantic as it heads out to sea.
Debby is the Atlantic’s fourth named storm. The others haven’t been much to speak of, though.
Debby formed near the Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday and has been painfully slow as it crossed the Gulf, just kind of hanging out off the coast of Florida.
It’s been destroying rainfall records for the month, with some places more than 3 inches above normal. Rivers are reaching record levels.
Some good news is that the rainfall has destroyed the drought that had plagued northern Florida for more than a year.
Here are a few photos from the damage caused by Debby. Think about that as you swelter in the dryness that has become this summer.
--Jerry Wofford
A message referring to rainfall from a tropical storm system is displayed at the San Jose Baptist Church on Monday, June 25, 2012, in Jacksonville, Fla. Tropical Storm Debby raked the Tampa Bay area with high wind and heavy rain Monday in a drenching that could top 2 feet over the next few days and trigger widespread flooding. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Kelly Jordan)
In this Monday, June 25, 2012 photo, life guard towers on Clearwater Beach are awash from high waters from Tropical Storm Debby, in Clearwater Beach, Fla. Debby flooded homes, an animal shelter and closed parts of the main interstate highway across northern Florida on as the storm hung stubbornly offshore over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening up to two feet of rain in places. (AP Photo/The Tampa Bay Times, Jim Damaske)
Len Hoffmann tours a flooded section of Selkirk Street in New Port Richey, Fla. on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. High winds and heavy rains spawned by the approaching Tropical Storm Debby caused the damage. (AP Photo/The Tampa Bay Times, Douglas R. Clifford)
