Heavy rainfall from Debby to lead to a major flood risk in parts of the Northeast
AccuWeather's Jon Porter breaks down the threats that Debby is bringing to the Northeast from Aug. 8-9.
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00:00Well, we want to bring in AccuWeather chief meteorologist John Porter.
00:03John, we have a lot of different hazards on the map and when it comes to population, the
00:08greatest number of people to be impacted by Debbie will be seeing the impacts tonight
00:13and tomorrow.
00:14That's a great point.
00:15This is Debbie's final chapter of impacts here over the next 48 hours, but it's going
00:20to be one filled with a wide variety of dangerous impacts.
00:24Please don't let your guard down now on this storm across the mid-Atlantic and northeast.
00:28Multiple problems ahead.
00:29And right now we are dealing with some tornado threats across southeast Virginia, eastern
00:33parts of North Carolina.
00:35There have been several tornadoes over the past couple of days in these areas.
00:38Couple homes damaged yesterday afternoon.
00:40So where do we expect to go with the tornado threat this evening and into tonight and tomorrow?
00:44Well, we're still going to have a problem across portions of the eastern North Carolina
00:48up into eastern Virginia, but that will reach into portions of the D.C. metro area, also
00:54over toward Baltimore and York and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania by late tonight and first thing
00:58tomorrow morning.
00:59Of course, tornadoes that happen at night can be especially dangerous.
01:03So we want people to download the AccuWeather app, turn on push notifications in these areas,
01:07be prepared, know how you're going to get to the safest part of your home if you need
01:12to do that quickly during an overnight tornado threat.
01:16And as we move forward tomorrow, this moves into some major, major cities.
01:20D.C. is still in that conversation early in the day.
01:23And while we move deeper into the afternoon and evening, New York City begins to enter
01:26the conversation.
01:27Right.
01:28Look at the wide scope of this here from northern New England down to portions of southern New
01:33England, New York City, Philadelphia, also down toward Baltimore and Washington as well.
01:38These will be widely separated tornadoes.
01:41So it's not going to be necessarily a widespread concern, but that's certainly a danger here
01:45as we head through Friday.
01:47I think it's going to be a pretty impactful tornado day across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
01:51And if we look at the timing of this, John, I have a sense that people are going to be
01:54surprised by how fast the rain begins.
01:57And also, if they're west of I-81, probably how fast it ends.
02:01But it's going to be a really torrential six, seven, eight, nine hours.
02:05Sure is.
02:06That rain is going to come down fast and furious.
02:08And we are concerned about this because whenever you have rainfall rates, how fast the rain
02:13is falling one to three inches per hour in the core of where you see these reds and yellows
02:20here on our map, this is extremely heavy rainfall.
02:23And Jeff, where that happens near mountainous terrain, in steep terrain, that's a real concern
02:30for resulting in some very significant flash flooding.
02:33So that whole area from portions of western Virginia up into central and northeastern
02:38Pennsylvania to upstate New York and northern New England, please be very prepared for dealing
02:44with flash flooding concerns in this area.
02:46There is a significant risk for flash flooding.
02:49Rainfall totals will be anywhere from a widespread four to eight inches in some areas, with an
02:54AccuWeather local storm max of a foot of rain.
02:58This is going to be coming down too quickly.
03:00Serious flooding in these areas.
03:01Some of these places have already saturated ground, which will amplify the risk even further.
03:06So be prepared in these areas.
03:08And as the sun comes back out on Saturday afternoon, the rivers will be rising in some
03:12communities.
03:13So this is a big concern.
03:14And the problems don't go away with the final raindrop.
03:16AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter.
03:17Thanks again, John.
03:18Appreciate it.
03:19Good to be with you.