Debby finally left the US on Saturday after the storm cleared the entire country. better part of the week The hurricane spawned tornadoes and flooding, damaged homes and claimed lives as it moved toward the East Coast after first hitting Florida as a hurricane.
Debby’s final day over the U.S. before sweeping into Canada brought rain to south-central New York and north-central Pennsylvania, prompting evacuations and helicopter rescues. The post-tropical cyclone continued to dump rain on New England and southern Quebec, Canada, Friday night, with conditions expected to improve Saturday morning as the system moved northeast.
Some of the worst flooding in New York on Friday occurred in towns and villages in a mostly rural area south of the Finger Lakes.
In Steuben County, which borders Pennsylvania, officials ordered evacuations of the towns of Jasper, Woodhull and part of Addison, saying people were stranded as floodwaters made several roads impassable. Some of those orders were lifted by mid-evening as the threat of serious flooding passed.
In the hamlet of Woodhull, a rain-swollen creek overtopped a bridge. According to Stephanie Waters, a local resident, pieces of sheds, branches and uprooted trees crashed into the bridge.
“It was scary to hear the trees falling on the bridge,” she said.
Fire Chief Timothy Martin said everyone in town was safe, but “every business in Woodhull was damaged.”
John Anderson said he saw floodwaters rising quickly, swamping some vehicles in Canisteo, in Steuben County, and in nearby Andover, in Allegany County. “It was pretty intense,” said Anderson, who reported to The Wellsville Sun. He said he saw people’s belongings swept away by the raging waters.
In Canisteo, farmers Deb and Cliff Moss suffered extensive damage to their dairy farm, which has been there for more than five decades. A neighbor’s double-wide trailer drifted off a field and into a river during the flooding, their daughter, Stacey Urban, said.
Urban said the catastrophic damage to the community was difficult to comprehend.
“They’ve lost a lot. It’s beyond heartbreaking,” Urban said.
Ann Farkas, who also lives in Canisteo, said it was the first time her home, one of the oldest in the area, had flooded since she moved there in 1976.
“The water recedes and what’s left is a thick layer of mud, like wet concrete,” Farkas said.
“Like many people, I don’t have flood insurance, so I doubt my homeowners insurance is going to cover all of this,” she said.
Steuben County Manager Jack Wheeler said the storm hit the same areas as Tropical Storm Fred three years earlier and that half a dozen rescue teams had used fast-moving water to pull people from their cars and homes.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro have declared states of emergency.
Randy Padfield, director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, said a National Guard helicopter with aquatic rescue capabilities was sent to Tioga County, which borders New York, because of severe flooding in the region. Padfield said Tioga officials requested assistance at eight to 10 rescue locations and that boat rescues were also conducted.
In Potter County, also on the New York border, the storm destroyed bridges and caused severe damage to Route 49, Commissioner Bob Rossman said.
“My understanding is that the road is pretty much gone,” Rossman said. “That’s going to be a very expensive replacement. And one of the most important arteries in the county.”
He said one firefighter suffered injuries from the water, but Rossman did not know how serious it was.
More than 90,000 customers were without power in New York and Pennsylvania on Friday night, down from 150,000 customers earlier in the day, according to PowerOutage.us. In Ohio, nearly 144,000 customers were still waiting for power on Friday night after Debby-related storms, including tornadoes, ripped through the northeastern part of the state on Wednesday.
Debby was downgraded to a tropical depression late Thursday afternoon and was a post-tropical cyclone by Friday, the National Hurricane Center said. It made landfall early monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, made landfall over the Atlantic Ocean and made landfall for the second time as a tropical storm in South Carolina on Thursday morning.
At least nine deaths have been reported in connection with Debby, most from traffic accidents or fallen trees.
In Vermont, where more than 44,000 customers were without power Friday night, Gov. Phil Scott warned that the remnants of Debby could cause severe damage, including in already soaked places who were affected by flash floods twice last month. But a flood warning was lifted mid-evening. Flooding that ravaged the northeastern part of the state on July 30 bridges blown out, homes destroyed and damaged, and roads washed away in the rural town of Lyndon. It happened three weeks after deadly flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane BerylPresident Joe Biden has approved a state of emergency in Vermont.
Rick Dente, owner of Dente’s Market in Barre, Vermont, shielded his business with plastic and sandbags as heavy rain fell Friday. “There’s not much else you can do,” he said.
Jaqi Kincaid, affected by floods last month in Lyndon, Vermont, said the previous storm had wiped out her garage and well, so they have no water. Also, a 120-foot (36-meter) tree was blown down and the fence was down.
“We do this all the time,” Kincaid said, holding her hands folded as if in prayer.
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Associated Press reporters Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Lisa Rathke in Barre, Vermont; Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; and Susan Haigh in Norwich, Connecticut, contributed to this report.
