Teen Killed After Debby's FL Landfall, 500 Water Rescues In Sarasota

Updated: 5:55 p.m., Monday

FLORIDA — At least one person is confirmed dead after Tropical Storm Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane in northern Florida Monday morning, swamping communities, which prompted 500 water rescues in Sarasota alone. And a Gulfport man is missing, authorities said, after his dog was found alone on his boat.

A 13-year-old boy was crushed to death around 8 a.m. after a tree fell on a mobile home he was inside, according to a Levy County Department of Public Safety news release. There were no other injuries.

After strengthening into a hurricane overnight, Debby was downgraded to a tropical storm late Monday morning, according to the National Hurricane Center's 11 a.m. update.

Sarasota Police said the department expects water rescues to continue into Monday evening as officers search for people stranded in the floodwater. The department shared photos on its Facebook page of residents plucked from floodwaters.

Brian J. Clough, 48, was reported missing about 12:34 p.m. Monday, the Gulfport Police Department said. Clough had anchored his sailboat about 50 feet from Gulfport's Veterans Park and was anchored there through the storm. A man from the local boating community saw Clough's vessel had partially sunk Monday morning, but his dog was still aboard the vessel.

A search was made for Clough, but he was not found. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Gulfport Police Department at 727-582-6177.

Debby made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane Monday around 7 a.m. in Florida’s Big Bend area.

The storm, which recorded maximum sustained winds of 80 mph, made landfall just west of Steinhatchee and 70 miles southeast of Tallahassee, CBS News reported.

Debby brings with it the potential for record-setting rains, catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge as it moves slowly across the northern part of the state and other Southeast states, the National Hurricane Center said.

It is expected to stall over the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina, which could see as much as 30 inches of rain.

"I think what’s going to make this much different than what we had with Idalia is it is going to move very slowly once it enters Florida — it’s going to be southern Georgia, northern Florida — and it is just going to drop an inordinate amount of water on the north-central Florida region," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told FOX Weather on Sunday.

Related:

• 500 People Rescued From Flooded Sarasota Homes, More Expected: Police
• 2 Tampa Bay-Area Bridges Closed Because Of Hurricane Debby
• How To Cope With Power Outages: Hurricane Debby

As of 5 p.m. Monday Tropical Storm Debby was over land near the Florida-Georgia border, about 30 miles southeast of Valdosta, Georgia. The storm packs maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and is moving northeast at 6 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.

These watches and warnings have either ended, or been recently issued, as of 5 p.m. Monday by the NHC:

• The Storm Surge Warning along the Florida Gulf Coast from the Aucilla River to Aripeka is discontinued.
• The Tropical Storm Warning for the Florida Gulf Coast from Indian Pass to Aripeka is discontinued.
• A Storm Surge Watch has been issued from north of South Santee River, South Carolina to Cape Fear, North Carolina
• A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued from north of South Santee River, South Carolina to Cape Fear, North Carolina
• A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for St. Augustine, Florida to South Santee River, South Carolina

Mandatory evacuation orders were in place for Alachua, Citrus, Levy, Dixie, Franklin, Taylor and Wakulla counties as of Sunday evening. Voluntary orders had been issued for Clay, Gadsden, Hamilton, Hernando, Jefferson, Lafayette, Madison, Pasco and Union counties.

About 5:25 p.m. Monday, there were more than 190,000 Florida utility customers statewide without power, with more than 25,000 customers in Suwannee County offline, according to PowerOutage.US. Pinellas County has more than 11,000 customers without power, and Sarasota County has about 7,100 outages.

Other counties with major outage numbers are Alachua with over 13,000, Hillsborough with about 4,500, Taylor with nearly 11,000, Madison with over 10,000, Columbia with about 19,000, and Levy with nearly 4,400 customers out.

As Debby makes landfall, “we will restore power to our customers affected by the storm as soon as it is safe to do so,” Florida Power & Light posted to X, formerly Twitter.

DeSantis said Monday that 17,000 linemen have been mobilized to help restore power in the state and that Starlink internet could be deployed if necessary, reports said.

“In my nearly 35 years at (the station,) Debby is high on the list of impactful storms. And all of this from a tropical storm that passed 70+ miles west of us,” Fox 13 meteorologist Paul Dellegatto wrote in a Facebook post, adding, “We say it all the time, but this storm is the poster child for, you don’t need a big hurricane to cause huge problems. The wind speed and the category of storm always makes the headlines, but it’s the water that causes the biggest problems.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 of Florida's 67 counties, with the National Guard activating 3,000 guard members.

The governor said that, for the first time, constructed flood control devices are being placed at utility stations to try to minimize the risk of power interruptions because of flooding.

This story includes reporting from The Associated Press.