United States | Storm Debby has claimed at least four lives in Florida

Storm Debby has made landfall on the southeast coast of the United States in Florida, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of people. In addition, at least four people are said to have died.

Officials say danger remains high as the storm moves across the state into Georgia and South Carolina, despite Debby downgrading from a hurricane back to a tropical storm, according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Debby made landfall in the state on Monday morning local time. According to a website that monitors power outages, approximately 275,000 customers had suffered from power outages.

Officials have predicted possibly record-breaking heavy rains and flash floods for several days. A rain front moving ahead of the storm already caused localized flooding on Florida’s southwest coast.

Along with the hurricane, 25 packages of cocaine also arrived in Florida, the value of which would be over a million dollars in a street trade, or a good 900,000 euros. About this message service in X having told according to a border guard official, a passerby had found the drugs on the beach in the Florida Keys and contacted the authorities.

Debbie was previously a Category 1 hurricane according to the NHC, but its wind speeds had weakened after the storm made landfall.

The NHC warned of life-threatening storm surge along the southeastern U.S. coast, saying floodwaters would reach 1.8 to 3 meters above the ground in some areas.

Evacuation advisories had been issued for at least nine Florida counties.

With several areas in the state of Florida have seen significant storm surge and flooding, the state’s governor Ron DeSantis told reporters on Monday.

According to DeSantis, significant flooding is expected in the coming days.

The storm is expected to bring torrential rain as it moves from Florida northeast to Georgia and South Carolina over the next few days. According to the NHC, the rains are possibly historically heavy.

A state of emergency has already been declared for South Carolina and Georgia due to the approaching storm.

The storm has been fueled by an unusually warm Gulf of Mexico.