Storm Debby to hit Northeast with huge rainfall, flooding and tornadoes

Mid-Atlantic and northeastern states are set to be inundated with rain and severe weather from the remnants of Tropical Depression Debby on Friday and into the weekend, bringing dangerous flash flooding and the threat of tornadoes.

Flood warnings and watches are in place from the Carolinas up to New England, the National Weather Service warned in an update early Friday, with rainfall reaching 15 to 25 inches in places.

Along Debby’s northeastern path many areas will receive 3 to 7 inches of rain, enough to produce “considerable to locally catastrophic flooding impacts through tomorrow morning,” the weather service said. At least seven people are known to have died as a result of Debby.

Debby has weakened since it first arrived in the U.S. and was downgraded to a tropical depression on Thursday, after making its second landfall in South Carolina, with sustained wind speeds of 30 mph early Friday, but its main threat is the sheer amount of rain it can still produce.

Authorities in Berkeley County, South Carolina, said early Friday that 2 to 3 feet of fast-moving water was rushing through streets of Moncks Corner, north of Charleston, prompting multiple rescues.

The waters were high enough for kayaking in Longs, South Carolina.

Tornadoes are also possible Friday morning across North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, before the risk of twisters shifts into New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and southeast New York later in the day.

Video showed a tornado touching down near Rocky Mount, North Carolina, on Thursday evening.

Vermont, which was hit by extensive flooding twice last month, braced for another major extreme weather event on Friday.

Hersheypark in Pennsylvania announced it would shut on Friday “given the inclement weather from Tropical Storm Debby.”