Tornado death raises Tropical Storm Debby toll to seven

LUCAMA, NC (AP) — Tropical Storm Debby spawned damaging tornadoes that killed one person, flooded a town and temporarily shut down part of Interstate 95 early Thursday as it blew into North Carolina after making a second landfall overnight.

The storm was expected to churn up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several inches of flooding rain this weekend.

The National Hurricane Center says Debby came ashore early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina.

Debby first made landfall as a Category One hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It was still a tropical storm Thursday morning, with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph (80 kph).

Debby wasn't done flooding parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina, and an additional three to nine inches of rain is possible as the storm moves north, raising concerns of flash floods in mountainous areas of Virginia and West Virginia.

Debby also could bring more tornadoes Thursday in parts of North Carolina and Virginia, forecasters said. At least three tornadoes were reported overnight in North Carolina, including one around 3 a.m. that damaged at least four houses, a church and a school in Wilson County east of Raleigh, county officials said.

One person died in a home damaged by the tornado in Lucama, North Carolina, Wilson County spokesman Stephen Mann said in an email. No further details on the person were immediately provided.

Debby also dumped rain on communities all the way up to the Great Lakes and New York and New Jersey. Moisture from the tropical storm strengthened another system Tuesday evening, which caused strong thunderstorms, according to weather service meteorologist Scott Kleebauer.

"We had a multi-round period of showers and thunderstorms that kind of scooted from Michigan eastward," Kleebauer said.

As much as six inches (15 centimetres) of rain fell in parts of New Jersey in less than four hours, and New York City officials warned of potential flash flooding, flying drones with loudspeakers in some neighbourhoods to tell people in basement apartments to be ready to flee. Multiple water rescues were reported in and near the city.

About 270,000 customers remained without power in Ohio as of Thursday morning, according to PowerOutage.us, following severe storms including two confirmed tornadoes.

All that water has to drain out to sea. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said his state was just entering Act 2 of a three-act play, after more than 60 homes were damaged but roads and water systems were without significant problems.

The final act may come next week if enough rain falls upstream in North Carolina to cause major flooding along rivers as they flow to the Atlantic Ocean.

A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations without declaring an emergency.

At least seven people have died due to the storm, five of them in traffic accidents or from fallen trees. The sixth death involved a 48-year-old man in Gulfport, Florida, whose body was recovered after his anchored sailboat partially sank.

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