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Debby downgraded to tropical depression after 2nd landfall

Debby is moving up the East Coast and is expected to reach the New England area over the weekend.
A man stands in shin-deep flood waters outside a home in South Carolina
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Debby has weakened to tropical depression intensity after coming ashore for a second time in South Carolina early on Thursday.

As of Thursday evening, the storm sustained maximum winds of 35 mph and was moving north at 10 mph.

The National Hurricane Center has discontinued all associated tropical storm warnings.

The storm will nonetheless continue to present significant rainfall and flash flooding risks to much of the U.S. East Coast. As of Wednesday night, some 22 million people in the region were under flood warnings.

An additional 3 to 6 inches of rain was forecast in southeastern North Carolina, which would bring totals for the storm close to 15 inches in the area. In South Carolina, another 1 to 3 inches were forecast, for a total of as much as 25 inches in places. Eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina were forecast to still experience "considerable flooding" through Friday as a result.

Rain of 3 to 7 inches could fall from North Carolina north across Virginia, with some areas seeing up to 10 inches. River flooding, catastrophic flash flooding and urban flooding were expected.

From Maryland to New York, 2 to 4 inches of rain could cause considerable flash flooding and river flooding.

Tornadoes were possible Thursday across central and eastern North Carolina into central and southeast Virginia, the NHC said. The risk would shift into parts of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania on Friday.

The storm had previously made landfall on Monday when it hit Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 1 hurricane.

A man was killed in Lucama, North Carolina, after a tornado from Tropical Storm Debby hit his house, officials said Thursday. He is one of at least seven people who have died this week as a result of the storm.

President Joe Biden previously approved emergency declarations for Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

RELATED STORY | Slow-moving Tropical Storm Debby drenches Georgia and South Carolina, spawns reported tornadoes

On Monday, over 300,000 people had been without power in Florida when the storm slammed into the state, but crews have worked to restore power to most households. Now, North Carolina is facing outages, with more than 50,000 without power, according to PowerOutage.us.

Debby also upended travel this week.

On Thursday, there were already over 700 flight delays and more than 60 cancellations within, into, or out of the U.S. as of 7 a.m., according to FlightAware.