Tracking Debby: Hurricane Debby makes landfall in Florida's Big Bend region

Coast specifically in Stein hatchee we are on your side tracking Debbie live with your most accurate forecast right now parts of the First Coast seeing impacts from Hurricane Debbie We are continuing to track active storm watches and any damage that comes into our area as well as damage from around the state and Debbie shaking up back to school plans we know that we are on your side of course with a breakdown of closures expected across our first post throughout the morning good morning to you I'm Katie Jeff hey welcome in we appreciate you waking up with us of course we're tracking uh Deb Debbie for you a hurricane Debbie a category 1 it has made landfall I'm keitha Nelson here so we know overnight the storm strengthened into a category 1 again in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Stein hatchee right before 7 this morning so here are the three things you should know about hurricane Debbie right now so number one this at this time this Flo the storm is making its way over the Big Bend like keitha said just made landfall around 7:00 this morning the state is under a State of Emergency due to the storm and there are a number of closures across the First Coast and SouthEast Georgia those scrolling at the bottom of your screen you can also text closures to us and we can send you back a list we're expecting to hear from Governor dandis at about 7:26 this morning of course we're bring it to you live right here on good morning Jacksonville and this morning we're on your side with the team of reporters tracking the storm from Lake City to San Marco and all the way up to Brunswick there with Jessica Clark and we have Team coverage a team of meteorologists with here us here as well Robert Spa meteorologist Robert Spa meteorologist Lou Turner standing by by uh keeping us aware of what's going on what we need to know hopefully everyone is prepared we've been warning them for about a week now that this was coming for sure and the good thing is we've had landfall all right so uh no more strengthening now we just kind of watch and wait for uh the spin-ups that are occurring here with this uh pretty big system I mean look a really impressive tropical storm that became a hurricane as it made its way through uh the Gulf of Mexico still at that category one is the latest update but we anticipate that to weekend very quickly now that the eyewall uh had made its way and the eyee itself has made its way on Shore latest forecast col still the Hurricane Center going with that Trek up with a stall out near the coast of Savannah or Charleston just off that Coast low country of South Carolina before dumping a lot of rain and and if Charleston South Carolina if a place you've ever visited if you've ever been I mean if they get more than six seven inches they've got some pretty bad catastrophic flooding in their downtown area they sit in the bowl think like New Orleans uh so if they they get a foot my goodness uh it's or more some forecasts had 20 to 30 in there's going to be historic level things they don't really know how to to deal with so where you see here this is our uh radar right now where you see everything in yellow that is your tornado watch which is going to continue through the afternoon each one of these feeder bands as they come on Shore friction with land causes the spin up to occur and causes the efzo uh tornadoes which provide a good bit of Gusty condition all right so we're all roads lead ever been to Steen ache before lovely Place uh to do some scalloping uh some snorkeling scuba diving just a great boating community and you couldn't get more centered up over uh that Community right now with the ey so landfall has happened officially uh now the worst coming for Lake City pretty heavy band we're going to have the center of that storm itself make its way right up Highway 41 moving through High Springs towards Lake City Lake Butler getting hammered with some rain right now and also watching now Has Lifted north of Fernandina towards uh St Mary's Kingsland Woodbine now good morning Woodbine you are right there on the Leading Edge of this next feeder band for you so heavy downpours Gusty winds talking about 40 mph wind gusts maybe even higher as we get into Woodbine Brunswick you were getting that cell we're going to check in with Jessica Clark here in just a minute this cell that had moved offshore onshore there across St Simon's Island so you kind of see how this pretty hard left Turner there you notice uh the general motion of this feeder band up more towards the Northeast this one coming pretty hard in so that indicates to me either a little bit of rotation which has not been warned uh or a really strong um Gusty wind scenario so we'll get some eyeballs on that and verification with Jess here in just a few moments but the thing you got to take away from this historic rainfall in Southeast Georgia so much uh rain today the roads are going to be very very wet we got to check on that commute this morning it is 7:05 we are doing extended coverage this morning on good morning Jacksonville k Jeff in the uuf health traffic center hey good morning so a couple things to remember if you do have to head out today please try to minimize your driving hydroplaning risk is high so be cautious and all bridges are currently open so taking a look I 95 near University you got a crash over here in the right shoulder so please be cautious look out for those Road Rangers there on scene it's definitely causing a delay towards the downtown area so something to be aware of but this is probably what we're going to be seeing throughout the day also along I 10 Eastbound and Westbound very close to the Columbia Baker line you got possible tree down and debris on the roadway and again that's on both sides so we are seeing uh some delays in that area please again be cautious if you are headed out today because there could be debris there could be down power lines especially those of you out towards the Lake City area getting kind of more intense uh effects of the storm so we'll keep watching anything else comes in we'll let you know and this morning we continue our team coverage with a look at things out in Lake City now that's an area set to experience tropical storm strength winds we have drew cusre standing by right now he joins us live in Lake City where as we can see the rain is really coming down at this hour Drew yes that's right Kei the rain is coming down and the wind is only intensifying and they right you know the debris has already begun on the street and if I walk down the street you can see the flooding has already began we were driving around down uh downtown of Lake City earlier and the lights near the gas station they were flickering our car was sh shaking back and forth but look at this this is a tree that fell down on the street and if you look where the uh the snap the branch was we don't really know I mean we can assume that this happened um from the wind but this just shows you just how powerful these wind gusts are Governor Des santz is set to address the state um at 7:30 a.m. we're going to be on air for the next hour or so but we'll keep you updated as we learn more and as you can see I'm right here next to the tree uh but yeah this is Drew cosr Lake City First Coast News on your side we'll keep you updated all right J thank you very much now for those of you who have been in Jacksonville for a while you know there are certain areas around Jacksonville that tend to flood Riverside some parts of McCoy Creek San Marco and that's where of course clear Alfre is she's standing by right now live for us this morning for a look at things in that area Claire we saw behind you just about an hour ago already we saw some um oh there it is some flooding in the streets that's right Ka and keitha good morning city workers are now joining us here in San marker on LEL street right by the intersection behind me of San marker Boulevard and take a look at just the flooding that we're seeing on the streets currently they are pumping it out and also Wastewater trucks have also joined us on scene here but the standing water is impacting all of the drivers here on their morning commute specifically they're having to go out of their Lane just to avoid all the standing water and hydroplaning and this comes as a result of the excessive rainfall we're seeing from Hurricane Debbie now yesterday mayor Donna Degan did Issue a local state of emergency causing a lot of government uh buildings and DCPS to be shut down now in response of those schools being shut down we do have shelters in place at Landmark Middle School and the lavel School of Performing Arts and uh Chief powers of jfrd has worked with partners with JTA to make sure there are free buses to get to those shelters but this is what Chief pow this is some of his concerns with the excessive Rin Fallen wind that we're seeing right now here in Duvall County we have two Swift waterer rescue teams that will be stayed strategically on each side of the river in case we have flooding that they can go into those areas and make those rescues now talking about flooding I know that jfrd has those crew station around the St John's river so he's being really mindful of places like here San Marco and Riverside reporting in San Marco CL alre for coast news on your side thank you Claren you heard her mention shelters just a moment ago but let's go over that information again so the city of Jacksonville is also opening three Emergency Shelters city leaders made the decision to open them due to the risk of flooding and high wind so here are the locations there's a general population shelter at lavilla School of the Arts people who need special assistance though medical needs or maybe you have pets you can go to Landmark Middle School or the legend Center early voting was supposed to start today in Duvall County for Florida's primary election but it was pushed back due to the storm now early voting is set to start on Wednesday that's August 7th and in anticipation of hurricane Debbie the Jags have closed today as practice to fans now they plan on still practicing as scheduled it's just close to fans there are only three open Camp dates remaining August 7th 8th and 12th you can register for those practices at jags.com we have an update on school closures in Southeast Georgia this morning students in Charlton and Pierce counties were set to begin their school year today but due to the impacts of hurricane Debbie both school districts have announced they will be closed today and Tuesday now the first day back for students is now set for Wednesday the districts say that they will provide any updates if necessary we'll bring it to you right here on First Coast News we're on your side with updates about trash pickup schedules here on the First Coast if you live in Duvall County today you can plan for normal trash pickup Public Works officials say they will monitor the storm to see if Tuesday's pickup should be moved to Wednesday in clay and lachwa counties today and all trash and recycling pickups as well as new garbage can deliveries will be suspended as of now services are set to resume on Tuesday depending on storm damage right now we have an article on our website first skill news.com with storm cancellations we noticed a lot of information but it is listed for you right now also on our first G news app and we can also send it to you directly to your phone all you have to do is text the word closures to 904 633 2402 and make sure to bookmark that page because we will be updating it with more closures as soon as they are announced within our area Georgia Governor Brian kimp has issued a state of emergency ahead of Debbie the storm is expected to impact South Central Georgia Southeast Coastal Georgia and Governor Ronda Sanz has already issued a state of emergency in Florida in just a few minutes Florida Governor Ronda Sanz is set to hold a press conference ahead of Hurricane Debbie's landfall well we know it did make landfall in Steen hatchee right before 7 this morning morning the press conference is set to take place in Tallahassee at 7:30 you can find that news conference in just a few minutes right here on good morning Jacksonville and of course we're uh continuing to track this storm system here's a latest look on the radar this did make landfall at the top of the hour but the worst of the weather is out ahead of it so let's break this down county by county and you know what to expect throughout this morning already we are seeing some down trees reported out there into the Lake City area where you could be looking at winds maxing out over the course about the next hour or two 40 to maybe up to 70 mph gust 8 to 13 inches of rainfall and yeah a spin up tornado is still possible uh then moving over towards Duval County here in jackville the rain already starting to pile up we are seeing some pooling in the roadways here with those winds could be maxing about 20 to 40 mph still that isolated tornado threat so one of those things you just want to keep your devices charged here through this morning even heading into this this evening as this storm just kind of lingers in our area Glennon Canada Nassau County through our morning and heading into tomorrow because this storm could be stalling out in your area we're going to be looking at that rain continuing to pile up but this is another thing we've been tracking over the course of about the last hour some storms just offshore which has been moving on Shore and those even showing a little bit of rotation in them so I wouldn't be surprised if we do get a tornado warning something we're expecting we continue remain in a tornado watch through this evening clay in putam County through today you're still going to be looking at those winds upwards about three or excuse me winds upwards about 2030 mph 3 to 5 in so you're not getting the worst of it but you still could be even looking at that potential for a tornado threat of course we're still tracking this and we want to know how long it's going to last I'll give you that 7-day forecast here in just a few minutes officials with Florida Power and Light tell us they are ready to respond while FPL says that getting Crews ready ahead of the storm is [Music] important and of course we're continue to watch this but just one more thing I'll show you here on the velocity real quick there's some of that rotation just offshore of our Coastal Georgia counties we're going to talk more about that as well as we continue to remain on this tornado watch from our storm as well and out towards I 10 be careful you could see some debris down some tree down along I 10 between uh kind of the Columbia and Baker line there along I 10 eastbound so we will keep watching this very closely anything else comes in we'll let you know okay yeah doing a mic check for you from Brunswick where the sun well sunlight is appearent and we are across the street e e well your time right now is 7:16 as hurricane Debbie approaches Florida's Big Bend or rather it's made landfall now Florida Power and Light is ready to respond FPL has pre-positioned Crews and Equipment throughout our area including in Lake City the company says getting crews in place ahead of the storm helps to speed up restoration efforts this storm has has the potential to cause widespread outages and we will be working around the clock to restore power safely and as quickly as possible well FPL urges customers to finalize their preparations keep safety top of Mind by staying away from flooded areas and especially stay away from any down power lines from Miami to the First Coast hurricane Debbie has already caused delays and cancellations for travelers at the airport now weather conditions have left dozens of airline passengers stranded this weekend TR Travelers stuck at Miami International Airport Sunday they expressed their frustrations over facing multiple delays and flight cancellations for those headed to New York most people have been told they can't leave until Tuesday right now flights at Jacksonville International Airport are being impacted as well at this time flight aare says there are 34 canceled flights out of Jacksonville so far and nine delays in a post on social media the airport says it will remain open as long as Airlines continue to operate but you are urged to check your flight status before traveling and this morning we continue to look at Debbie's impacts on both Northeast Florida and South East Georgia Glen County they're preparing for what could be historic flooding in some parts of that County particularly the Isles so a lot to watch there especially with the causeway with the Sydney laner Jessica Clark is in that area she's in Brunswick so what are you seeing it definitely looks like the rain's picking up yeah you know it's a steady rain and that has just kind of increased over the last hour to be a little bit more or steadier steadier and then a little bit harder and harder but I'm going to go under this awning here by uh Browns antiques check this out sandbags lining the entire storefront and not just sandbags but if you go all the way here I'm going to get a little closer to you so sandbags have plastic bags underneath them whoever did this sandbagging knew what he or she was doing and has done this before because this is so smart the water if you just have sandbags sometimes can still slip right through the sandbags but with this plastic sheating underneath this person has done it in a very smart way so in Brunswick which is a a a city that is 14 feet above sea level very very close to the level of the of the surrounding Waters H it it has a tendency to flood especially in this downtown area just talked with a a man who works in one of the shops just around the corner he said oh yeah this place floods and so they're anticipating that to take place with this particular storm in a city that is really on a peninsula of land the water is all around and with more water coming down from the sky certainly could flood we're live in Brunswick Jessica Clark First Coast News on your side all right Jess thank you and and she is here uh Brunswick all right in fact on Highway 17 uh got St Simon's Island we got the causeway out to Jackal so a lot of rain uh happening and actually as you're noting we got some a line about to move right through her area yeah decent little rain band just one of them that we're expecting to move on through but you seen it didn't look too rough there for Jessica but give it about maybe 20 minutes I think U you know not a destructive rain band but definitely going to be picking up with some of that heavier rainfall out there there all right uh let's uh Go full let's take a look at uh the rest of our area I did want to note what was about to hit through Glenn County into Brunswick a lot of rainfall uh happening up Highway 17 up I 95 it's one of those things that you just don't want to don't want to get on the road Katie we'll check in with you in just a minute looking at those roads but you you getting on 95 such a just a tough thing to do uh on a daylight today if you got to do it I I I hate it for you but if if you have the choice and you are able to avoid the work uh so to speak would just um stay at the house and and and just watch it from the uh the TV or your app so bigger picture look now as we focused in on where Jessica was in Brunswick this just kind of absorb uh think about where you live where you where are you on the map right let's just kind of pick out your county and we got the the time now so let's just think if you look there you see anywhere under the yellow shading here we've got a a tornado watch so that means at any given point through the duration of this storm the hurricane that has now made landfall we could get a tornado warning going any one of these red yellow orange cells spinning on Shore as you see where uh landfall occurred Steen Hatchy now officially we have a storm that has made its way on land and now no more strengthening uh can occur at least while on land so Lake City now a pretty good band a pretty good expanding area of showers and storms happening right up Highway 41 up the 75 Corridor goodness it's just almost like a impossible possible to even make uh that trip up to uh up and down 75 I'm being told we got a little something happening right now Robert was was I getting signal yeah you know you're just looking a look at Lake City uh currently got 35 m per hour winds out there uh sustained about 20 so we did see some of those down trees as well reported here but I just want to note that you know kind of not only looking at a current radar but our future cast here giving you ideas this pulls towards the north and east with uh you know Maxville if you step outside right now you're going where where is this hurricane we're here in a hurricane right now uh it is not there yet I I don't expect hurricane conditions in jackville but what we are going to be seeing is those winds picking up throughout the day kind of the heaviest as we go ahead through this afternoon and maybe closer to about dinner time before things taper off heading into tonight but for our friends in the Brunswick we're just starting to see things pick up there as Lou is just showing you on the radar and that is going to continue even heading into tomorrow as this storm slows down and almost stalls out with those those bands on the back side of it so you know we're still looking at the impacts this morning but this could be a long duration event and we've been saying this is not a Sprint it is a marathon a little alluding to our Olympic coverage on the other side of the world hey if you are in Lake City though different model guidances kind of showing you the consensus here that the winds are probably going to be peing as we go ahead to about the 10 11:00 hour tropical storm strength before they slowly taper off as we look at head into tonight into tomorrow so if you're out there winds maxing about 40 to 70 mph are going to be looking at that heavy rainfall out throughout the day today so I I hopefully you secur your items by now uh as the storm's already on top of you and if you're in Duval County of course still going to be looking that heavy rain but those winds could be peaking still with gust up the tropical storm strength about 24 miles per hour enough to maybe toss some uh lawn furniture but really the worst of it's going to be further off towards West and still enough rain in enough messy conditions to cause some traffic concerns so let's talk to Katie Jeff here in the UF traffic center definitely definitely have some traffic concerns here so let's start with a look along I95 on the Northbound side near uh University so you can see You' got a crash in the right shoulder it looks like drivers are moving over to give them some space but that is causing some congestion as people are trying to make their way towards downtown this morning and you could also see the ponding that was on the roadway this morning from all of the rain now we did just get in a report of some debris on the roadway this is just south of the Lake Butler area along Southwest 121 uh again just south of Lake Butler hearing a tree is down and you can see Heavy delays here along uh 121 in the area so something to be aware of out towards Lake City like Robert and Lou have been talking about we are seeing trees and debris down on the roadway along I 10 Eastbound and Westbound primarily on the eastbound side at this point possible a tree is down near the Columbia Baker line so be C careful in that area be cautious there we've been seeing on and off delays building also a crash along I 10 eastbound just outside of Lake City as well minimize your travel today as best you can hydroplaning is definitely a concern so be cautious and all of the bridges are open at the moment but still please try to stay home minimize your travel if you can o e e and welcome back look at this just into the first kiss news newsroom this is video of the impact of hurricane deie as the storm just made landfall in Taylor County Florida this is Right In the Big Bend area this is video taken on an fot camera as you can see the winds really whipping there we can see the power lines as well just shaking back and forth as well as those uh stop lights there uh it's a situation where we're going to be on air with you throughout the morning of course and online bringing you the very latest updates be careful out there honestly shocked they still have power in those conditions right now flights at the Jacksonville International Airport are being impacted the number keeps increasing at this time flyware says there are 40 canceled flights out of Jacksonville and 14 delays now a post on social media the airport says it will remain open as long as the airlines continue to operate but you are urged to check your flight status before traveling our storm did make landfall right at 7 o' with our hurricane Debbie here just around the Big Bend area right near uh Steen Hatchy now as it moves off towards the east of course we still have tropical storm warnings in place all across the first Coast or the weather where you would call the ey wall is passing just now around Branford in dling park Andross the city in fact we'll just kind of look right in here I'm going to remove some of the Clutter and you can see that it's going to be nearing Live Oak around 755 Lake City about 842 that's when we're expecting kind of those Max winds upwards about 60 gust could be near 70 mph enough to D some down trees and maybe some power outages so that is really the line we're going to be watching for down trees and things like that in the broader picture though it is still windy all across the First Coast even near some Gusty conditions near the coast at about 30 miles per hour not quite destructive but still we're going to be watching these bands as they kick on by even for that threat of some tornadoes as well and just looking at our hour by hour future cast you can see as this tracks towards East Max winds into the Jacksonville area won't take place till about this afternoon heading into the evening before this starts to drift off towards north and kind of lingers across parts of Southeastern Georgia so is it going to rain today in jackville and across the First Coast yeah every single hour we have rain in the forecast thus it is a weather impact alert day here and of course we're going to continue to stay with you here at First Coast News not only this morning but of course the whole team is in today continuing to track it for you st johnon Flagler County you may not be getting the worst of it but you're still going to be looking at potential for some tornadic cells that could be developing here with winds about 15 to 30 mph along our Coast while throughout the day here into Charlton Brantley in Pierce County I do you want to watch out for that tornado threat in fact just taking one more look at the radar I'm going to pull this up real quick for you here uh just kind of showing you what we have off here towards north and it's these individual cells just towards east of Brunswick INF fernen I want to pay a close uh close attention to because within those especially as the near the coast you could start to see some rotation due to friction as this comes on Shore in fact let's just pull up the velocity real quick for you we'll just take a quick look at kind of what we're seeing yeah right in here there's even a few areas with that potential for a couplet one right in here and another right in there does that mean there's a tornado no and these are still offshore so they would be water spouts but these are the areas we're watching right now at this very moment for um the potential for anything coming on shore of course continue the track this storm and please try to minimize your travel we're seeing quite a few crashes and debris on the roadway this will look towards I95 near University just before you get to Emerson you got a crash over there in the right shoulder and it looks like maybe one right lane there blocked as well but a lot of ponding on the roadway at this point and you can see the delays along 95 Northbound to get into downtown we do have a report of a tree down along uh 121 near Lake Butler just south of Lake Butler and we have been seeing on andof delays there on State Road 121 as well so something to be aware of but Lake City really watching you closely because of debris and trees that have been reported down on your roadways on long I 10 uh we have a possible tree down we're hearing that Governor Ronda santz is speaking let's listen in is track very very similar to Hurricane idalia 11 months ago uh the maximum sustained winds for Debbie have reached 80 miles an hour with higher gusts throughout the storm area uh to contrast that with idelia idalia reached close to 120 mph in sustained winds uh we have seen significant storm surge uh we have seen inundation uh we have seen and will continue to see flooding in very Parts uh of the State of Florida this storm is expected to move throughout North Central Florida uh and likely go into Georgia and in the Carolinas uh yesterday and into this morning we saw impacts uh throughout the West Coast of Florida starting in Southwest Florida uh and continuing up the coast uh this storm has produced and will likely produce uh significant flooding events from Sarasota Bradenton Area all the way up to Northern Florida and that's not something that just happens when the storm passes there's a threat ongoing threat of that uh over the ensuing days now that hurricane Debbie is making landfall most important thing to do is to just protect yourself and protect your family uh don't go out into this storm uh don't drive on the roads particularly when they're flooded uh we have had some traffic uh mishaps over the last 12 hours uh and when you have flood situations that is the number one way where we will see fatalities is by people being out on the roads and hydroplaning or having other problems uh so do not go walk or drive into flooded roadways there are hazards there they're dangerous uh we want everybody to be safe um Power uh so far we have about 143,000 Floridians without power uh we have a lot of restoration Personnel ready to go uh to get it back on uh I I think because that this is a category one with 80 mph sustained winds uh the total number of power outages are not going to reach the level level that they did with hurricane idalia and certainly not the level that they did with hurricane Ian uh back in 2022 uh but we do have 177,000 linemen that are ready to assist with restoring power immediately and I know a lot of the utilities have already restored hundreds of thousands of folks uh starting uh uh yesterday we also have starlink internet ready to deploy if that is needed so we're standing by we want to assist all the local uh communities with with anything that they need uh as I mentioned yesterday we have been approved for federal Disaster Assistance uh we our pre-fall Declaration was approved uh our national state guard are ready for search rescue and humanitarian res assistance as needed State emergency response teams also fully engaged in preparedness and now our response efforts uh we have our Florida Highway Patrol that are uh ready to enter their alpha bravo shifts that's 24hour around the clock non-stop shifts uh we have 3,000 service members from the Florida National Guard that are on standby uh and that includes search and rescue route clearance distribution and protection of critical infrastructure they have 10 rotary aircraft and over 400 tactical vehicle stage to support relief operations and we have our Florida State guard where we have 100 soldiers nine shallow water vessels 10 utvs two amphibious rescue vehicles and seven search and rescue crews uh ready to be deployed from Camp Blanding as needed uh Florida Fish and Wildlife as the flooding happens uh they have 12 Swift water rescue teams uh ready to go and and they are going to be very dynamic in this and move to where the the problems are uh We've also have on on hand for this storm Statewide uh 11 million bottles of water almost 3 million shelf stable meals uh we do not anticipate uh needing to to put a major major dent in that uh at this time uh but we will be ready uh if those circumstances change our Florida Department of Transportation has been clearing roads and and shoulders uh for the last few days uh cut and toss efforts to clear roadways and highways will start as soon as the storm passes uh the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and the Howard Franklin bridge have been temporary temporarily closed due to high winds and will be reopened as quickly as possible once conditions improve and there are a number of Roads uh that have been flooded and that have been temporarily closed and so as soon as it's safe they obviously want to get everything back open uh we also have f. creu stag to inspect Coastal Bridges and we'll be monitoring water levels at low-lying bridges near major river Crossings particularly in the northern part of Florida as I mentioned yesterday people with disability or special needs uh if you need assistance uh you can sign up at snrf flhealth reses docomo Department of Health snrf flhealth reses docomo we haven't had major power outages compared to some of the past storms if you are without power and you want to use a generator please do not use that generator inside your home make sure you're operating at 20 feet away uh from from the home uh we don't want to see any anybody get get uh killed based on uh the carbon monoxide that will build up when those are run inside people's homes uh I want to thank everybody who's been involved in the preparation efforts uh we've got a lot of work ahead of us there's going to be a lot of water that's going to be dumped uh throughout the state and we're going to see effects of that uh not just today but in the ensuing days uh but we uh are prepared we have the resources that we need uh and those will be deployed uh as needed to help with the recovery and the response efforts and I'll turn it over now for further details to Kevin Guthrie thank you Governor I appreciate you being here early this morning and late last night uh and helping uh helping provide the necessary leadership that is needed for such an event like this um as the governor indicated I'm going to start kind of where he's left off safety safety safety we were starting to enter places like um Tallahassee Jefferson County it'll look very quickly become Taylor County Dixie County where we are now cleaning up so we need to make sure that we prevent those deaths and I'll talk more about that but we need to be safe please be safe and stay off the roads if you are Sheltering at home do not leave at this point in time just stay where you're at conditions are going to continue to deteriorate outside especially in the north central Florida and Northeast Florida it is UN and it is unsafe to drive or walk anywhere we've already experienced 10 to 12 Ines of rain in some portions of Southwest Florida to include Sarasota and Manatee County many streams and River uh rivers are rapidly Rising if you look at the USGS uh river gauge summary you will see that a lot of those are turning black or very very dark blue that means that those rivers are responding very quickly so again we expect to have several rivers and streams go into major flood stage so please be careful if you live along those areas some of these areas will continue to receive upwards of 15 to 20 inches of rain all of that will drain into the river basins um this is going to be event that is going to be probably here for the next five to seven days maybe as long as 10 days depending on how much rainfall we get so we are not running anywhere we are staying put and we are going to make sure that we're here to respond want to reiterate the hazards from this storm uh will be seen and felt far outside the center of the cone flood impacts are going to be felt everywhere across North Central Florida this storm is Mass mive with hurricane force winds extending 25 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extending 140 mi from the center covering covering much of the state from the I4 Corridor All the Way North to the state line we've already had more than 35 tornado warnings issued across the State of Florida rest assured that stage resources are safe secure and ready for deployment to the impacted areas we have six Active Fuel Depot for First Responders across North Florida with over 600,000 gallons of fuel as of this morning we have 850 debris disaster management sites should we need to do debris operations we will most likely see additional tnic activity as a storm makes landfall this morning and moves across North Florida please remember that if a tornado warning is issued in your area you need to get to an interior room much most likely your your bathroom in your home free windows and doors and make sure that you stay hunkered down in that area if you happen to have something you can throw over your body such as a blanket or maybe even a light mattress this will certainly help as well be prepared for power outages the governor talked about that we will have power outages the nice thing is is this a cat one hurricane it's again it's not going to be as widespread as we saw in Hurricane Adelia and hurricane in but nevertheless we will have those uh those power outages please do everything you can to stay safe and comfortable where you're at because First Responders need to be able to reach you and get to other people during the time of storm take care of yourself and your family Sheltering in place as long as it needs to as long as that needs to happen ambulance ambulances search and rescue teams and other First Responders will not be able to get to you during unsafe weather I know many of you may start calling for 911 services but until those winds typically in each County die below four 40 mph sustained winds they will not be able to respond but as soon as they can they will and we have plenty of resources stage to come in and assist after storm related deaths are preventable and I'll say that again after storm deaths are preventable we see the majority of our storm related deaths especially in lowend category hurricanes happen after landfall you heard the governor talk about generator safety please make sure again reiterate 20 ft away from any open door W window make sure that you wait 20 minutes before refilling a generator also it in much of our much of our state has um senior citizens please do not get up on a ladder do not try to put a tarp on a roof do not try to cut a limb we have volunteer organizations that will come and help you with that all you need to do is reach out to your local emergency management agency or call our sell line and we will make sure somebody comes and helps you on your property do not risk yourself do not risk injury we will come and help you thanks to the leadership and dedication of the governor D santis Florida is the leader in emergency management and we continue to show it through this Disaster Response we are the best at what we do the men and women that are sitting on that floor behind me worked all night long most of them came in at 2 or 3:00 a.m. this morning and they will be here through the duration of the day and into the night tonight we want to make sure you get the latest information and to do so please continue to follow us on X and Instagram fsrt that's Fert and on Facebook at fdm for updates Governor as always thank you so much for your leadership and your assistance as we respond to this disaster so the uh as a storm uh continues to to to to head north uh even when it's primarily affecting Southern Georgia I mean all that all that rain and all the water when when that's there that eventually comes down into the northern part of Florida so when you're talking about flooding you're looking to see the water that's happening in real time as the storm passes you but then there's going to be after effects from this storm uh you're going to continue to see some of these uh Rivers rise uh so there's going to be an ongoing threat of flooding that is not going to end simply when the storm passes so so just be be aware of that uh be prepared for that we have a lot of Assets in place and and you we're going to be there to help people get through it and I think that we have probably marshaled uh more assets than we're going to need to be able uh to to respond uh but there will likely be many days where people are going to have to look to see what's happening with the water particular uh as we talk about getting into the northern part of the state so I want to thank everybody who's worked to to get to this point uh they've um started preparing when this thing wasn't even an organized storm just because we know how these things can happen and so so the preparation's been good and and now we're uh prepared to respond accordingly okay any questions when do you expect we'll be able to get out so um we we think maybe maybe later today um I don't know if we will fly today um but you know if you look at some of the places in the Big Ben that's obviously accessible via VIA ground transportations so we we may do that uh I know Kevin's also going to he has staging areas in different parts of the state he's going to move some of of the the resources closer to the Sarasota Bradington area uh just because they've had a really significant amount of water uh dumped on them and we're seeing seeing the effects of that but uh we will we will get out as soon as we can how has the flood control around the power Sub Station up so far well I'll let Kevin if he wants to say uh but if you look at the power outage numbers um this is incredibly modest compared to what we've dealt with in past storms I mean hurricane Ian I mean you had millions of people that that were out the restoration was the fastest has ever been for for a major hurricane uh but now we're talking about hundreds of thousands obviously as this storm goes throughout the northern part of Florida you may see you may see more outages uh but what we're seeing is is not at the level of idalia and certainly not at the level of Ian now whether that's because of the the devices that we've put in or just because the storm is is not as as powerful as those maybe it's a combination yeah I mean the governor certainly said it best Cody and that is um you know we we've got stuff out right now and it's still being impacted but as of right now the substations where we have installed stuff with Florida Power and Light and a couple of other locations no issues whatsoever on those substations uh the places where we have put it out at hospitals no issues of flood inundation into the hospitals so these are again we learned this over idalia and Ian these are best practices and it it improves that the nation taking Florida's lead and underneath the governor's leadership of building capability and capacity through disasters we can be good at flood response events so again um it it as the governor has said we haven't had any issues to date I just uh one more reminder the these uh when the water rises when you have streets that can be flooded uh that's hazardous and in some respects you know that that's even more hazardous than than some of the other aspects of these storms uh so so just please take the adequate precautions uh don't try to drive through this uh we don't want to see traffic fatalities um you know adding up because people are out there when the roads aren't aren't safe yet it's going to it'll be fine uh all this stuff gets taken care of all the roads will be will be open um in the not too distant future these guys are working really hard but sometimes when there's uh when there's a lot of water on the roads it can be very very hazardous so so please uh don't temp fate don't try to go and uh and go through these uh flooded streets uh and as that happens take the proper precautions and uh I think that we'll all be better off for that I know people want to get different places uh but sometimes these roads uh can be very very hazardous we do anticipate a lot of water continue to be dropped with this storm and and this is just something that people are going to have to uh be very very aware of uh so we'll be back with with another update and we will probably end up somewhere uh by uh by the end of the day as well we just heard there from uh Governor Ronda Sanchez giving an update this is following hurricane Debbie making landfall Debbie made landfall right at about 7 this morning in Steen Hatchy um he mentioned their power outages as expected we did see power outages here with in Florida about 4,000 or so but we do know crews are working diligently to restore power we even heard from Florida Power and Light earlier here on a good morning Jacksonville saying that they actually have crews out ahead of the storm set up in different areas ready to respond which they're doing so and he did mention something that I do want to note because we see it happen often your generator if you have a generator you have to use it do not use it inside make sure it's outside and at least 20 ft away from your property and another thing he mentioned is that sometimes the injuries and fatalities from these storms can come from traffic crashes or incidents of people trying to drive through water so we've already seen some crashes this morning thankfully none of them have been listed as fatalities but you really want to be cautious minimize your travel today because hydroplaning is a really big risk there's a lot of ponding on the road you know I want to bring in our meteorologists Lewis Turner Robert sped on this one because we heard them mention there this weather event uh we'll be dealing with for the next 5 to seven days you hear that and you're Wonder wait a minute that's not what we were expecting so exactly what were they um trying to say there well it really is the rainfall that's going to be lingering today we have tropical storm warnings we do not expect a hurricane for 5 to 7 days but if it does stall out we could get some of those feeder bands and still got those and if you get rain day after day after day it could pile up and that's when we're talking about that threat of flooding govern and he clarified that just if you hear five to 10 days whoa but this thing is going to move away now there is a stall out that will happen uh eventually here off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina but you got to think about the the river basins so as we uh take a look at our time lapse out uh over mport looking over the St John's river all that rain on the lens as we get a sunrise happening this morning but think about the alaha River St Mary's River he mentioned the rain that's going to be falling so much of it Over Georgia coming down those river basins into the Swani ultimately Black Creek we know those are the areas that really uh flood even after I mean a week or so after a major rain of which is what we're experiencing story 1A with this uh hurricane that has now made landfall is the water associated with it all the rain that's going to be falling a foot possible up in Glen County more even uh and in the Carolinas they're talking about experienc something like 20 to 30 Ines of rain which uh that's off the scales even when it comes in terms of measurement for history the center of your storm here yes official uh landfall has happened Steen Hatchy they caught the uh the center of this now let's take a look at the 7 a.m. advisory we're going to get a bigger advisory in about 10 minutes time actually 8:00 we'll get a positional update and then again at 11:00 today we'll get a a a fresh conb with all the new computer model runs with it so uh current uh forecast at least over the next 48 hours so we get to uh Tuesday afternoon and things are pretty confident you notice how tight the cone is here uh with the forecast it's when we get to overnight Tuesday into Wednesday that we expand this picture look at the it's not a cone anymore I mean so here is a cone this is a hot air balloon and it the reason for this is National Hurricane Center lack of true confidence right in all the computer model runs there is a varied resolution from each computer model run some taking it out to uh the Outer Banks of North Carolina some with a really really long stall and a loop around that you've probably seen on social media um that would bring it back into Georgia or even Northern Florida but right now National Hurricane Center locking in on a turn hard to the north as we get to Wednesday Thursday but with that that means the showers uh can certainly wrap around and linger into Georgia we're going to uh track this we're going to continue to look we're to look at the computer model uh data here with Robert Spa in just a moment he's going to go county by county and the impacts that we're going to be seeing throughout our day because we are still in a tornado watch so tornado warning certainly could be popping throughout our day as well let's look at our roads now Katie Jeff is monitoring the UF Health traffic center this morning a lot of wet roads that's right we are so please try to minimize your driving today as best you can the hydroplaning risk is high we are getting quite a few crashes coming in but all bridges are currently open so if you do have to get out all of your bridges are currently open this is a look towards I 10 just behind the pole here there is a crash along I 10 eastbound near casset but when you look at the roadway here you can see how much water is on the roadway it's just coming down so fast it can't drain off and that's why you're getting those hydroplaning conditions so I 10 westbound near casset look out for a crash in that area possibly blocking a lane but if you are traveling along 95 Northbound near Emerson there is a crash over on the right shoulder as well now out towards Lake City Live o there are a lot of reports of debris on the roadway trees down and I mean it's all over especially Lake City Live o area please please please do not be out driving in this at the moment thanks for that Katie weend our team coverage right now we're going to head out to Brunswick we have Jessica Clark standing by there she is alive in that area Jessica we've heard from the Emergency Management there they tell us that really their main concern is heavy rainfall there in the Brunswick area you've been showed us some Crews already ready those business owners were not messing around they have their sandbags up they are ready for this storm and you know what Kea it's not many people who have sandbags up uh We've shown you here I'll go ahead and show you this this shopkeeper has the sandbags and has them beautifully set out uh this is Browns antiques in uh downtown Brunswick and and so yeah they do but it's very spotty here in downtown Brunswick who has uh the sandbags out and and who doesn't um so want to just show off the beautiful uh clock tower at the courthouse here um but while we're looking at that let's go ahead and look at these lovely lights that are strung across uh Newcastle here uh downtown Brunswick not moving a whole lot but every once in a while there is a gust of wind and boy those lights just go B back and forth back and forth back and forth and then they calm down I would say for the most part and we've been out here for a few hours this morning in downtown Brunswick that things have been fairly quiet and when we first arrived it wasn't even raining and so that was about oh I don't know 5:00 4:30 or so and then steadily it started sprinkling and then it started raining and that's what we're dealing with right now with an occasional gust but the gust itself isn't even that strong but going back to your original concern yes there will be or could be flooding very likely right where we are in downtown Brunswick we'll see what happens live all right Jessica Clark thank you very much so the city of Jacksonville preparing for possible impacts due to Debbie so Jacksonville fire rescue Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and Jaa all deployed Crews to different parts of the city we know restoration is a huge concerned right when it comes to the storms you lose power you want your power back we recently heard from ja about their plans to make sure they restore power as quickly as possible take a listen right now we've got about nine outages on the system a little over 800 customers out and how are people in your Crews preparing for that our crews have been setting for preparing since late last week uh we've been watching the storm closely and we've been preparing over the weekend um you can see we got all the equipment out here ready to go U we've got plenty of material and Equipment Personnel ready to respond any that may occur on the system are there any specific areas that you're looking at paying close attention to right now the Mandarin area usually down around mandering point they do take a lot of wind and it gets saturated with all this rain so we do expect fallowing trees in that area whenever you say outages what are you seeing are you seeing an impact on power lines water normally when I talk about outages I'm referring to the Electric System and most of that's going to be from down trees or alies caused by winds limbs falling on trees things like that and I know that it's all on Deck type of situation could you talk a little bit about the number of crewes that are out that are ready to work just in case anything happens absolutely we got roughly 30 overhead line Crews or actually 30 Crews U combined we've got over 200 line workers ready to respond right are you all prepared for anything to fear I know that you all are in constant contact with the city about what exactly they're doing to prepare as well to help you all out absolutely we're very prepared we've got enough equipment personnel and material to pretty much rebuild any damage that the system would sustain in this kind of event and what message do you have to customers who are concerned if they need anything from need help or anything what should they do right so no ABS I've got a lot of information for customers number one is safety right so just please be careful around the cruise please be mindful give them plenty of room to work if there is an outage right they're more more likely going to see a down power line or a tree falling on a power line please don't approach it call 665 6,000 and report that condition we will respond any advice that you have for customers as well I know that you already talked about keeping staying a close distance or or good enough distance from Cru but any other advice for people if they do have an outage what they should do I know you gave that number but some people sometimes want to fix it themselves or try to figure out what to do without trying to call you guys yeah absolutely do not try to fix it yourself right safety's Paramount and please be patient um report the outage we will respond we will get to you now ja has done a lot of preventative measures since June 1st how is that actually coming into play for a storm like hurricane Debbie today that's an excellent question so we do have a very robust tree trimming cycle and a very robust pole replacement program so what we do is we inspect our poles every eight years anything that's damaged or cracked or may look like a risk is replaced um and then same with the tree trimming um we do they trim our circuits every two two and a half years so our vegetation man Management program is very very good what that the point of that is to try to keep any vegetation near the lines cleared in case of St like this were to happen it U there would be less risk of a limb falling on the power line right and last question for me what are your crews are going to look like once the storm is over what does the cleanup process look for everyone right so we'll still have all hands on deck usually for a good 24-hour period post storm um we'll go to all the areas where we're at clean up any um material that was left on site and then uh take care of any small remaining outages or customer connections I know an area that um tends to see a lot of flooding and some issues is um San Marco is that an area that you all are also focusing on as well I know you mentioned mandar right um we do focus on San Marco they do sustain a lot of flooding um if they I don't think we're anticipating a tremendous amount of flooding in that area right now but if it were to happen we'll be ready to respond so there you've been hearing from Jaa saying they are ready to respond specifically they are watching The mandaram Point area saying they've been getting uh quite a few outages there you're watching good morning Jacksonville as we continue to track hurricane Debbie made landfall just about 7:00 this morning in Steen Hatchy here in Florida we know the winds right now are about 75 mph in Lake City we're going to take you out there live just ahead you're watching gmj all right so how much time do we have to make graphics or I guess tell me what's the what's the plan for the next block running back and forth e e e Live From First Coast News on your side this is good morning Jacksonville and welcome back as we continue our coverage of hurricane Debbie here at 8:00 here on good morning Jacksonville it is a weather impact alert day on our First Coast and SouthEast Georgia as hurricane Debbie just made landfall along the Big Ben area of the Gulf Coast right at about 7 this morning we are on your side tracking Debbie live with your most accurate forecast and right now parts of the First Coast are seeing the impacts of hurricane Debbie you're probably seeing the rain come down you're definitely feeling the winds out there if you're out towards Lake City Live Oak area we are tracking any active Watches or Warnings that come into our area and here's a live look at Jacksonville Beach wow you can see the wind is really whipping out there rain coming down as well Debbie shaking up back to school plans as expected we're on your side with the breakdown of closures expected across the First Coast this morning good morning T I'm Katie jeffre welcome in off to a busy start clearly I'm keitha Nelson we appreciate you guys waking up with us so this morning we're on your side tracking Debbie overnight the storm strengthened into a category 1 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico so here are the three things you should know about hurricane debie and how it's impacting Northeast Florida and SouthEast Georgia right now so at this time the storm has made landfall it made land landfall around 7:00 this morning and the State of Florida is under a State of Emergency due to the storm and there's a number of closures across the First Coast and SouthEast Georgia they're scrolling there at the bottom of your screen now this morning we're on your side with Team coverage from Lake City to San Marco and up to Brunswick and we have a team of meteorologists here as well we have meteorologist Robert Spa as well as Lewis Turner standing by look we've been talking about this for more than a week now it is finally here hopefully everyone is prepared let me get my serious I'm going to take the glass is often be real okay don't drive right now I I listen like right and and Katie's seeing it she's track we've got such heavy rain the interstates right now is just not going to be safe and I know easy for me to say if if you have to be at work I'm just saying call somebody and say it's not going to it's just not safe to be on the roads right now the flooding rain you get caught in one of these deluges and it becomes a problem quick uh so here are your very latest numbers we just got the eight :00 advisory we're going to be getting hourly advisories now from the Hurricane Center so this 8:00 advisory still a hurricane we're kind of wondering now that official landfall has happened if uh they would have downgraded it they have not 75 mph winds of course uh for a hurricane you need 74 mph wind so we're really just hanging on by a thread with this category one storm making a landfall and Steen Hatchy a little bit earlier this morning confidence pretty tight over the next 36 hours and then uh confidence really waning with just how widespread the computer model resolutions are with this storm National Hurricane Center holding on to a pretty strong Northerly turn with this system and I believe by the 9:00 update now that the eye will fully be on Shore we'll probably have this downgraded to a tropical storm we will of course watch very very carefully uh what that uh this all means is we have to watch these B we are in a tornado watch through the rest of our afternoon each one of these bands coming on on Shore has the potential of creating a spin-up if we get a little bit warmer through our day a little bit more instability in the atmosphere we don't expect full Sunshine obviously so not a great deal of heat but just a little bit of heating and that could be a triggering mechanism to get a couple uh tornado warnings going which of course we'll track very very carefully um want to uh zoom in see you where you see the yellow is where we have the tornado watch in place like looking at Lake City you saw we had team coverage here we got Drew and Tristan and in place in Lake City they in the next uh 30 to 45 minutes one of the main bands in fact just what would be the outer band of that main eyewall will'll be making it across I75 there into Lake City uh timing wise you can see 848 Lake City 859 Live Oak we've got Jasper Lake Butler even so I got some good friends here in Lake Butler need you to take cover take care as this really really strong band uh Comes Your Way talking about very Gusty winds probably in that 50 mph range that could cause some damage zooming over I want to look out of course here uh going through downtown Jacksonville getting inside that Beltway out towards the airport a pretty heavy band now making its way north of the St Mary's River into uh what will be fora and then St Mary's in the next 45 minutes to an hour as well a big picture of the Winds I'm looking at Lake City at 21 sustain this is about to change here in the next uh 45 minutes or so as we just showed you in the timing but everywhere we're getting those steady winds coming in and off the beach showing you the computer model forecast just going to kind of time this out for you uh Robert speda is on standby he's going to show you County bycount breakdown here in just a minute he's going to give you our our big impacts uh and as far as timing goes with this it's it's really about whether or not this thing stalls out and when it stalls out um off the coast of Georgia or South Carolina notice we get through this evening look at this the Slowdown over uh Lake City this in particular computer model is showing this holds true we're talking about getting close to a foot or more of rain and very very damaging winds over Lake City uh going through Tuesday and into Wednesday now uh well this will be early Tuesday morning a lot of this centered up we'll get over Brunswick that's why we're talking about 12 in possible even more for uh Glen County with some flooding potential there the good thing if you can take the good thing out of this Tuesday night with the position of the low in the center uh a lot of the Winds would be coming back on Shore into Brunswick so any flooding uh that would have happened with a tide uh tide being tonight around 1050 there along the marshes of Brunswick and along the coast of St Simons and Jackal uh this position of the low would actually help flush out some of those uh marshes so at least you'd have that although you still look like by Tuesday night in a heavy rainfall so you're just getting to the beginning of this in Glen County we're going to take a look at your uh 7-day forecast your weather impacts through the next couple of days with Robert here in just a few moments as we continue our team coverage let's do look at the roads with Katie Jeff I'm telling we as the advice was at the beginning best if you if you can avoid it just just stay home that's right because take a look at this this is the Buckman bridge and you can see I mean it's almost blinding conditions at this point the camera is shaking and that's from all the wind so if you are out driving you've got some pretty nasty conditions to try and drive through you've got a lot of ponding on the roadway from that heavy rain and that is what is represent Ed by this blue on the map and it's all over our area and when you have that ponding that really leads to hydroplaning which is part of why we are seeing so many crashes people spinning out people running into each other so please try to minimize your travel today well there's a report of a crash I 10 westbound near cassid so please use caution a lot of construction on I 10 as well so sometimes with those Lane changes that can be an issue for drivers another crash just came in 295 northbound at JTB no reports of any lanes block with this but even if it's off to the side you still still want to be cautious because people are sliding they could slide into that crash that's over on the side now Lou mentioned Lake Butler not long ago there's a report of a tree down along uh 121 just kind of south of Lake Butler and we are seeing some delays there as well so please be cautious out towards Lake City Live o there are so many reports of trees down debris on the roadway that it's hard to keep up but there uh is a report very close to the Colombia Baker line of possibly a tree down on the eastbound side of I 10 I'm not seeing significant delays so I'm thinking it's probably small maybe off to the side but something to be aware of this crash we've been following since early this morning it looks like maybe a truck went off the side of the roadway I 10 eastbound just outside of Lake City it's in the shoulder but again please try to minimize your travel don't go out unless you really have to because the roadway conditions are just really messy and downright dangerous let's continue our team coverage right now with things in Lake City we're going to take a look at things there that's an area set to experience tropical storm strength winds today I just spoke with me neologist Robert Spa who says they're seeing wind gusts of up to 60 M an hour we have drew Cosby standing by live again in Lake City this morning um well this is Tristan Hardy at this uh hour uh Tristan we see the rain is really coming down there absolutely ke just raining sideways over here and within the last hour we've experienced the wind just pick up I mean just holding my hand out out here I can feel how the the rain is pelting my hand it's slightly stings a little bit the wind is getting heavy Drew is having a little difficulty holding the camera right now I want to show you just how powerful these winds are we were passing through the Historical Area downtown of Lake City I want you to see this Courtyard and see how all of these chairs the tables knocked over because of the wind over here now as you've heard uh Governor danan say that there is thousands of linemen out here in the in the State of Florida working around the clock to make sure that we still have power I've heard uh down trees and and uh and SM accidents we've experienced that here in Lake City we've experienced a number of down trees and debris on the road there been a little difficulty driving for a little bit if you don't have to be out here then don't drive out here there are thousands of lineman here hundreds excuse me of linemen here in Lake City who are in certain areas in Columbia County waiting to strategically respond to any type of emergency going on take a listen so it's minor but it drives me crazy okay here's another look of all the uh wind that's blowing around here in this Courtyard in Downtown lake Lake City again it's raining a little bit heavier the wind is getting stronger and then not only that it just feels like the uh the rain is just pelting your skin a little bit it's it slightly stings a little bit so if you again if you don't have to be out here don't drive out here we're already seeing some water rise and some of the areas of downtown Lake City we're going to drive around this uh around Lake City and just check everything out we'll keep be posting all this everything on everything Happening Here on First Coast News we're live in Lake City I'm Tristan Hardy First Coast News on your side surprised to see all of that patio furniture still left out there knowing that that the storm was coming that's right especially I mean it's one of the things that we do talk about a lot before Storms Come ashore is that you need to secure your belongings or else it could end up like that and in a worse storm those could become projectiles so hopefully things will be secured now for those living in Jacksonville you know there are certain areas that really tend to flood Riverside certain areas of downtown and especially out towards San Marco and we know they've even brought in pumps in some areas ly so we see the ponding there behind Clare Alfred who joins us now live in uh that neighborhood there Claire specifically where are you at this hour Keith and Katie good morning we are here in San Mo Marco specifically off the intersection of San Marco Boulevard and LEL Street and look you can't even tell the difference between what is the road and what is the sidewalk because it is entirely covered in water now this is an area that has a history of being flooded yes in fact we saw city workers starting to come out to look at the area of all the excessive water that drivers are experiencing here and San Marco at around 6:00 a.m. however there are people that are potentially hydrop planting with high waters like this not only in San Marco but in areas like Riverside and even on the interstate like Lou and Katie mentioned definitely driving is not the priority today to stay off the roads as you can just see how much water these cars are pushing off now in terms of just having crews out here we have city workers ja even jfrd they are currently at both locations on both sides of the St John's river as they know that areas like this uh tend to be flooded and in fact Chief powers of jfrd does have a plan for keeping Crews on standby as we continue to see the impacts of hurricane Debbie we have two swiftwater rescue teams that will be staged strategically on each side of the river in case we have flooding that they can go into those areas and make those rescue use now again if you do not have to drive specifically in neighborhoods like San Maru and Riverside my best piece of advice is to avoid driving on streets to avoid flooding we've seen people having to put their hazards on and even having to pull over just in this parking lot just to assess how they were going to move forward on their commute now reporting in San Marco CLA alfy bris coast news on your side all right Claire be careful out there so the city of Jacksonville is also opening three Emergency Shelters city leaders made the decision to open them due to the risk of flooding and high wind so here's where they are so you have a general population shelter that is at lavilla School of the Arts people who need special assistance maybe you have medical needs or you have pets you need to go to Landmark Middle or the legend Center and make sure you bring a kennel for your pet if you're going to one of those now early voting was supposed to start today in Duvall County for Florida's primary election but it was push back this is due to the storm now early voting is set to start on Wednesday that's August 7th and in anticipation of hurricane Debbie the Jags Clos today's practice to fans now they say they are still going to practice as scheduled there are only three open Camp dates remaining August 7th 8th and 12th now you can register for those practices at jaguars.com we have an update on school closures in Southeast Georgia this morning students in Charlton and Pierce counties were set to begin their school year today but due to the storm and the impacts of Debbie both school districts have announced that will be closed today and Tuesday so the first day back for students is now set for Wednesday the districts say that they will provide any updates if necessary we'll bring it to you right here on First Coast News and I know some of you have questions about trash trash collection so we are on your side with the trash pickup schedules for the First Coast if you live in Duvall County today you can plan for normal trash pickup Public's Works officials say they are monitoring the storm to see if Tuesday's pickup should be moved to Wednesday in clay and Ela counties today all trash and recycling pickups as well as new garbage can deliveries will be suspended and as of now services are set to resume on Tuesday depending on storm damage we know there's a lot of information that we're giving you right now but we have an article on our website firstc news.com with all of the storm cancellations that information is also available on the first kiss news app and we could also send it to you directly to your phone all you have to do is text the word closures to that number on your screen it's 904 6332 402 and make sure to bookmark that page because of course this is all a fluid situation we're going to be updating it with more closures across our area as soon as they are announced well Georgia Governor Brian Kamp has issued a state of emergency ahead of Debbie the storm expected to really impact South Central Georgia Southeast Coastal Georgia now Governor Ronda santz had also issued a state of emergency in Florida well we know Florida Power and Light is ready to respond why FPL says getting Crews ready ahead of the storm is so important all right so we're continuing to track this and I want to show you the radar right now because uh this is kind of important we're talking about these tropical storm strength winds uh let's Zoom right in Just Around Mayo Live Oak area and I'm going to plot this out for you because this is what is left of the eye walls this came on Shore and I think just entering live o at this moment and in the next few minutes in Lake City we are going to be seeing the sustained tropical storm string winds and if we were going to be looking at gust that could be knocking down tree limbs or power outages or anything like that it is going to be within this band right here which would be that eye wall after it came on Shore so entering Lake City give it a on within the hour I think you're going to be seeing those Max winds here places like Live Oak just starting to enter into your area right now as well I mean this was the latest report on these winds 48 m per hour in vasta Lake City they had gust at 39 but that was about 20 minutes ago and I think it's going to be going rapidly downhill over the course of the next few minutes as I mentioned also got those southernly winds coming in on the out across parts of Duval County NES jacks winds coming right up the river and likely hitting the anomer there at NES ja I've worked there I know exactly where that is they have 47 m hour winds at this time as well so estimated it in the center at 75 mph right front quadrant and yeah I'm not probably going to see sustain in Lake City at 75 but you are going to be looking those winds gusting up there enough to be knocking down trees so if you plan on jumping in the car in the next few minutes out there or you want to go outside for a walk it is not the time to be doing that this is one of those storms where uh we were saying you know stay inside if you can just be smart about it we should have no injuries on the First Coast with this one as long as you are smart you are not out driving in the worst of the weather or getting out and putting yourself In Harm's ways so hopefully everybody body is being smart if you're watching here right now you're taking the proper precautions you're staying informed here and uh of course we're going to stay with you uh throughout the rest of this morning yeah we can't say it enough folks be safe out there on the roadways when it comes to closures we're getting a lot into our Newsroom at this hour we're going to of course keep you updated on it all throughout the morning right here on good morning Jacksonville you know Finding levity in this I keep getting emails from all the golf courses I play at they're going to be closed today I'm like yeah no kidding right it's it's unbelievable all the rain uh that we are seeing as as predicted but I'm telling you historic levels up near Brunswick and up that I95 Corridor toward change on your side means having someone to talk to letting us take care of your morning earning your trust we want to help your family save that extra dollar to get you to work with a little less stress and to help keep you safe because no matter what happens we will always be here to say good morning Jacksonville First Coast News on your side you're watching the First Coast News Weather Channel on wjxx digital channel 25.2 powered by the First Coast most accurate weather team First Coast News on your side [Music] [Music] [Music] when it comes to forecas in the weather experience matters an entire decade 10 fingers seven years 15 years I've done this 25 years my first job was in 2005 right here at mport evil station 40 years and I'm still learning and earning your trust is just as important so at home on the go wherever you need us we know you expect the best and you deserve it you're the reason we do what we do you and your family as meteorologist it's part of our job to be ready we're here to tell you what's really happening and give you science not speculation hey we know when dangerous weather is coming you have important decisions to make you want to keep your family safe every choice matters life can catch you off guard your forecast doesn't have to the First Coast most accurate weather team First Coast News on your side accuracy matters the First Coast News weather team delivers the most accurate forecast period certified by weather rate First Coast News on your side news weather Sports and Traffic download the First Coast News app today first thing I want to do in the morning I want to I want to smile so I want to hear about Keith's kids I want to hear what Katie's baby's up to and Lauren's new family I want to know those things good morning Jacksonville within that is a family we are together before the sun even comes out I love that I know when I walk into the station I'm going to see Kea and Lou and Lauren and even the people behind the scenes having this home that is good morning Jacksonville I love coming to work every day spending time with Katie and Keith and Lauren they're all such wonderfully upbeat cool people there's a camaraderie there that you can't just make up I'm blessed to be a part of it like you don't find that in every workplace or at every news station Katie and Kea and I we all have that Mom camaraderie truth be told Kea and I have worked together longer than anybody so I think she knows the right times to call me on my stuff there's no better way to start your day good morning Jacksonville First Coast News on your side enjin the conversation happening right now like First Coast News on Facebook you are our eyes and ears on the street when you see breaking news happening near you share your photos and videos using the First Coast News app find the near me tab then click share with us upload and submit your photo or video may appear on First Coast News on air or online First Coast News on your side Sunday night Sports final nights we've got the local sports scene on lock Jaguars Gator NOS K's dogs High School sports and your hash team sideline photo so join the first gr sports team Sunday nights at 11:30 Sports final sponsored by Farah and Farah go inside the story follow First Coast News on Twitter on your side there are three certainties in life death taxes and the San Marco train will make you late from your street to Main Street when it comes to traffic I've got your back 95 is the name of the road not the speed limit I will pull this car over with traffic every 10 minutes don't say I didn't warn you people out here are driving like it's Mario Kart because there are plenty of people I would like to Red Shell traffic with Katie Jeff and the UF Health traffic center weekdays only on good morning Jacksonville wild wild rainfall totals with a stall out that could potentially happen and hopefully as we go ahead through today that confidence does increase but for now just due to that lack of steering flow it does decrease the confidence in that extended forecast so just want to continue to watch for those changes too all right so uh let's go over to the big wall if uh possible I'm going to uh switch things over I want to take a look at sort of the weather impacts uh the win the impact and the need what you need to do and the win is of course now and I and so the question is not when it starts because we've had it we've had landfall it's when is it going to end for me right so when is it going to end for you right so Tuesday late night Tuesday for a majority of us but we have a very close eye on uh SouthEast Georgia for that wraparound rain that would happen on on the south end of this uh this system that would potentially be stalling off that could go into Wednesday morning as well the impacts we're experiencing the heavy rain right now the isolated tornado there have been tornado warnings well south of us and along the coast the West Coast we could see that today if we get a little bit more uh warmth going to get a little bit extra instability though there's plenty of it already in place so let's keep an eye out for if we get a tornado warning out there let's prep for the flooding let's have our devices charged right in case we get those power outages which we had been talking about so that way you can stay with us if you do have to hit the road we don't want you to but if you do have to get away from the TV set have those uh those apps handy that call we had been showing you so wide on the back end of it because of the uncertainty the spaghetti models Robert showed that they're really all over the place the National Hurricane Center kind of coming down on the the middle of this thing uh making it uh that hard North term I want to show you a couple pictures outside Lake City is where we anticipate getting some really strong winds here in the next 20 to 30 minutes or so at least within the hour and we're already seeing all that rainfall a peek at Downtown Jacksonville before we go after this short timeout look at all the rain and blinding out there so avoid the roadways e e e Live From First Coast News on your side this is good morning Jacksonville well good morning thank you for staying with us we are tracking Debbie hurricane Debbie made landfall ear earlier this morning around 7:00 near near the Big Bend already feeling impacts in our area as well we've got some heavy rain very strong wind out there especially out towards the Lake City Live Oak area and folks here's a live look for you this is a look at the damage that we are seeing in certain parts of our area again the storm is not giving anyone any Mercy you can see here as we track Debbie right now making his way across the State of Florida just into the First Coast Newsroom this is video of the impact of Hurrican Debbie as a storm just made landfall in Taylor County Florida right in the Big Ben area as mentioned this is video taken on an f. camera as you can see the wind is really whipping out there power lines as well and we can even see the actual um flat the lights there uh whipping in the wind and here's another live look for you in another part of our area this is out in St Austine right near the bridge of lions you can see wind and rain as cars pass through that area there yeah you can really see the flags going there in the wind so all morning long we have Team coverage as we follow hurricane Debbie and the impacts that we could see here on the First Coast well welcome in clearly off to a very busy start on this Monday morning I'm keitha Nelson I'm Katie Jeff we are so glad you're here with us we have meteorologist Robert spa and meteorologist Lewis Turner here to kind of walk us through the morning and we are really starting to see it pick up especially out towards Lake City Live o runs Wicket starting to build in here in Jacksonville as well I think uh Robert and I were just talking and you were saying you were thankful uh we haven't seen the widespread tornado warnings yet not not on wood we have not we saw a couple little rotations on radar but nothing enough to indicate a tornado on the ground we do want to clarify something I want you guys to clear that FR for me because we mentioned hurricane um this is a category one storm right now at about 75 milph sustained winds at 74 it it goes down 73 so 74 would be the the threshold for a cat for a hurricane we get below that and then we'll go to Tropical Storm so we're right there right on the edge and we're going to get an update in about 30 minutes they're doing Hurricane Center is doing hourly uh strength and location updates so uh right now the 8 A.M visory is the latest and and Kei is exactly right still at that 75 that we've got to uh to watch for the movement of this storm North Northeast still they're saying at 10 miles an hour with a steady pressure um the pressure will start to fill in a little bit now that we have moved Overland meaning it'll climb meaning it'll weaken so maybe the next half hour at least by 10:00 this should be downgraded to the tropical storm I don't think that truly changes impacts obviously if we've got this longer it stays as a hurricane the more Lake City is going to feel the brunt of it but by the time the center reaches that Lake City area here in the next 30 minutes or so uh the the wind should have died down a bit I should say all right so where you see the yellow we had mentioned we have not had any tornado warnings yet that is a a great thing there is so much more to this storm that's down near the I4 corridor though I should say uh where they have seen the spin-ups and as that tail makes its way towards us we could have a little bit better chance through the heater of the afternoon so uh looking at the center and mentioned Lake City it is fully on Shore uh now and it beginning to fill in so not that welldefined clear uh eye as far as rain is conern so the eye is beginning to fill in Dowling Park is under some really Gusty uh conditions right now Branford and uh Lake City so the next 25 to 30 minutes or so some really strong gust winds coming towards you now let's look at uh our First Coast here getting into Jacksonville we've got Heavy Rain from uh really extending through Western uh Nassau County so west of I 95 in Nassau County from Fon so Callahan hilard into the airport area west side of Jack really really heavy rain but what we're we're not seeing any rotation in any of this right now so just that blinding rain and the Gusty winds for you there that'll extend into Fernandina as far as sustained winds right now uh Lake City we're going to get some good strong gusts here very very shortly uh for you so just a heads up I want to show you futurecast because speed is everything with this I mean this is Monday afternoon and it still shows I think this is a little slow I I don't I I believe we're going to get a little bit faster forward momentum with this particular computer model so I think by tonight the center will be a little bit further north of Lake City and we'll be thinking about more chance for getting some rotation here in Jackson so we'll watch carefully through the the evening hours with this as well this isn't just a morning event this is an all day Monday event into Tuesday as well so we got to kind of settle in as we continue to track what is left of hurricane Debbie still a hurricane out there we'll have more specifics county by county in just a moment let's get on the roads now with Katie Jeff and the UF Health traffic center well my hope is that people will stay home stay off the roads this is a look towards I95 near Emerson and when you take a look here you can see how heavy the rain is and sometimes when it's coming out it can be almost blind rain but just how much of it is just on the roadway it's coming down so fast it can't kind of run off and that's how you get the ponding in the area so that's what the blue represents blue represents where we're seeing ponding and you can definitely see it throughout the area here at the moment now as you are making your way around Jacksonville if you do have to head out please try to minimize your travel we did get a report of a crash at 295 southbound the ramp there from US 17 hearing it's a multi- vhicle crash and possible a lane there is blocked so keep that in mind as well also a crash at 295 northbound in JTB use caution there and if you are going to be out traveling maybe around the Brunswick area the Sydney laner is open and the causeway is open but those are two things that we are watching very closely uh from the rain and the wind standpoint but for right now both the Sydney lineer and the causeway are open and your Jacksonville bridges are all open as well and the City of Jacksonville is getting ready for the impacts left behind by Debbie jackville fire and rescue the jackville Sheriff's Office and Ja deployed Crews to different parts of the city so they can respond to any emergencies as Debbie begins his track across the State of Florida we're doing previously when a usar team would go to the Swan Valley area like it did last year we would have to wait on National Guard heavy equipment to get in and knock those roads open where if we send the rat team with our usar team they can go in and bust those roads open well when other usar teams within the state started seeing that they they said this is a best practice now here's information on shelters within Jacksonville they're now open for anyone that needs a place to ride out the storm the legend center is open for general population and those with special needs now Landmark Middle is open for the general population those with special medical needs and it is pet friendly La Villa School of the Arts is open for the general population we also have a look at some school closers across the First Coast so Glen County Schools announced it is pushing back the first day of school by just one day this is due to to the storm the school will start on Wednesday that's August 7th all Duvall County Public Schools and offices will be closed today and all oncampus events and athletic practices will also be cancelled all schools will be closed today in Columbia County all Nassau County schools and offices will also be closed throughout the day and there's some more school closures as well you got Charlton County that's going to be closed today and Tuesday and the first day of schools now Wednesday same story here for Pierce County they're going to be closed today and Tuesday and have their first day of school on Wednesday as well now we know early voting was supposed to start today in Duvall County for Florida's primary election but it was pushed back due to the storm now early voting is set to start on Wednesday that is August 7th and in anticipation of hurricane Debbie the Jags have closed today's practice to fans they still plan on practicing but it's closed to fans now they only have three open Camp dates remaining August 7th 8th and 12th you can register for those practices at jaguars.com right now we do have an article up with all the storm cancellations and closures that we are aware of on firstcoastnews.com and the First Coast News app now we can send that to your phone text the word closures to 90463 32402 and make sure you bookmark that page because we will be updating it as we get in more closures and right now flights at the Jacksonville International Airport are being impacted the number keeps increasing right now Flight Aware says there's 43 canceled flights out of Jacksonville 13 delays now on a post on social social media the airport says it will remain open as long as the airlines continue to operate and you are urged to check your flight status before traveling and something else that we have also just seen along I95 southbound at the Airport Lanes there are blocked so you may not even be able to get to the airport exit at this point right now we are learning about power outages in our area as well learning that over 40,000 customers and businesses are without power across the First Coast according to ja's power outage map right now nearly 85 500 customers are without power and we're going to continue our team covers this morning as Debbie continues to move closer here to Florida we know it is now here it made its landfall in Stein Hatchy right at about 7 o' this morning we have CLA Alfrey standing by live in San Marco for us this morning San Marco an area that we know floods very easily even when there's heavy rain now Hurrican a category Katie and Kea good morning we are here in San Marco right here along LEL Street and the San Market Boulevard and right now the water has overtaken both lanes of San Marco Boulevard we can see right here a car this is a typical pattern that we've seen with traffic all morning where cars are unsure of what to do they pull over they try to reassess the situation and again would not recommend to be driving in conditions like this the water has taken over all of San Marco Boulevard even LEL Street like you can't even tell the difference between the sidewalk and the actual Road just from the impact and as you can see there is a lot of water being splashed back and forth which is making it very difficult for drivers even unsure of which lane to be in this is a concern that ja is definitely working on as Katie and Keith have both mentioned that right now currently 85 um 100 customers are currently out of power we just spoke with ja and we asked them specifically about their conditions in San Marco now they are saying that as of right now they have seen worse but they are continuing to keep crews in this area specifically of San Marco for outages and this is what ja has to say about their concerns for the rest of Duvall County we're concerned about soggy ground and the potential of tornadoes so trees we have 27 tree Crews ready to go in case we need them as well so right now of course with the excessive rainfall we are looking in areas along the St John's river like Riverside and San Marcos to be cautious if you do have to drive otherwise I would not recommend driving in conditions like this as so many people are waiting in the parking lot just figuring out what to do how to get back home or how to get to work reporting in San Marco CL Alfrey First Coast News on your side thanks for that clearer time right now was 8:41 on this Monday morning let's take a look at how hurricane Debbie is impacting the State of Florida this morning so we do have some video out of Tampa as hurricane Debbie made its way towards Florida you can see waves crashing into the seaw wall the rain coming down and right now Tampa Police have announced more than eight streets are flooded and they are expecting more flooding throughout the morning and moving down south to Fort Meyers Florida this is where streets are flooded as you can see in this uh video here so you can see a Min van driving through the flooded Waters we can't say it enough do not drive through flooded streets you don't know how deep the water actually is or what is in the water in some neighborhoods flooded Waters started to reach people's actually up to their front doors you can see in the this video here and moving up the East Coast here of Florida into the Cedar Key area there was Heavy Rain strong winds and you can see it hitting the small fishing town this is some video from just last night yesterday you can see the video or the waves crashing into the seaw wall and you remember last year Cedar Key was actually hit by Hurricane Adalia and so some people had just kind of rebuilt from that and now they're having to deal with hurricane Debbie here we go all right we went ah head to Lake City this morning this is where they can expect to see tropical storm strength WIS we continue our team coverage with a look at things in that area an area that is taking the brunt of this storm we have Tristan Hardy standing by for us now live hey good afternoon ke good morning ke so right now we are on I 10 East near mile marker 306 where there was an object on the road and Crews had to uh rush to come over here and make sure the roads are clear we have a state trooper and a Road Ranger still on seen as soon as we leave they're going to leave as well and then I want you to check out what they had to get off the road this right here this huge this huge piece of debris this tree that fell over it was all on on this left lane over here and they've been out there since we got the report at 8 88:13 a.m. so they've been out here trying to fix that make sure that's taken care of now as we were driving to I 10 East the wind was a little bit tough on us I you know as I was driving the steering wheel was tugging on me a little bit now the rain is picking up a little bit more but as of now we're still safe everything is a okay there are moments when we just experience the strong winds that's pushing us but as of now all is fine they just cleared up this road right here so if you're driving on I 10 East um near M Market 306 then you are good to drive in the left or in the right lane but if you don't have to drive then don't do it um the RADS can be a little bit slick be careful cuz you don't want a hydrop plan or get into any type of accident we'll send it back to you guys in the studio I'm Tristan Hardy First Coast News on your side well uh thank you very much there Tristan you know what we're continuing to track this though it is still technically a hurricane but I wouldn't be surprised if this is downgraded uh here pretty soon but that doesn't mean it is going to be weak we still have some pretty decent impacts with this trist was just mentioning it was a rough drive we actually have the uh kind of the inner core of the storm passing right near Lake City at this time just around Doling Park over towards live o and I think within that that's where you're going to be seeing these tropical storm strengths sustained wind so still got kind of the worst of it passing by there before things start to clear out in the back side of it right now though the biggest impact continues to be that threat of heavy rainfall persistent over the next few days we still have that damaging wind threat but in even that chance of some tornadoes thankfully we haven't had that quite yet that this morning but we did have several reports yesterday and we also had tornado warnings towards our South and all that still is headed in our directions let's still break this down county by county for you so you know what's going to be happening in your area now if you're in St John's over towards Flagler County still could be looking at these winds about 15 to 30 gust up near about 40 m hour still got that potential for tornadic activity along the coast as these bands feed around and come onshore and that's the same thing for Glen Camden in Nassau County we monitoring a few storms just offshore there for you but for you as the storm drifts towards the north this is still going to be not over this morning through tonight and into tomorrow as the storm kind of stalls out in your neighborhood and also you're going to have those onshore winds so for coastal areas you are under a storm surge watch with that high tide especially heading into tonight about 10 to 11:00 there is a potential for some water level rise up to about 2 to 4 feet above normal levels there and then where Charlton brenley and Pierce 10 to 20 in of rain potentially in some of your are areas as well thank you very much Robert so we'll keep you updated throughout Debbie on the First Coast News app you can find the latest weather updates as well as important reminders on how to stay prepared but first let's take a look at some of what hurricane Debbie has done in the San Marco area this is some video looks like from near Lal street now you can see streets there sidewalks flooded as well our clear alfies in that area and she's saying some drivers are pulling over trying to assess if they can even make it through some of those flooded roadways you know what happens in that area anytime there's a regular storm much less a hurricane it gets pretty uh bad out there we want to take you now live to uh this is Brunswick Georgia this is not live this is some video for you not too much happening in the area right now other than light rain and you can see crews are on standby ready to respond your time right now is 8:47 so we've got some of your top headlines happening today on the First Coast we know that Georgia Governor Brian Camp has issued a state of emergency ahead of Debbie the storm is expected to impact South Central Georgia as well as Southeast Coastal Georgia Governor Ronda Sanz had already issued a state of emergency in Florida now flights at the jackville International Airport are being impacted right now according to flight tracking software flight aware there were 35 cancelled flights out of Jacksonville on Sunday in a post on social media the airport says it will remain open as long as Airlines continue to operate now you're also urged to check your flight status before traveling today clearly during a hurricane you will be seeing some delays and cancellations now if you had tickets to Sunday's cancel jumbo shrimp game you can exchange your ticket right now through your my ticket account now fans can exchange a ticket for equal or lesser value to any remaining jumbo shrimp G all right good morning everybody what a morning it has been let's get you reset kind of what we're looking at as far as our alerts our watches and our warnings are concerned there is still a hurricane warning in Place West of Lake City City right now we're expecting another update about 9:00 so we'll get that uh topof thee hour update and we'll see that 75 mph wind has been measured 74 or getting below 74 is when we would be out of the hurricane raming back just into tropical storm I say tropical storm but we've got the warnings here for us from uh parts of glenden up north to Macintosh County all the way into putam County if you can hear us you are underneath tropical storm warning those conditions very likely and you can see what Debbie is filling in the loops here showing that ey which is fully on Shore I highly anticipate we'll get that official downgrade to tropical storm in the uh next update a new cone will be coming in taking all the computer model data that'll come in at 11 o'l so that'll be an important update for us as far as the forecast And as far as the timing is concerned because there is a stall out forecast with the this storm off the coast of Georgia of the Carolinas the back side of that could bring a lot more rain to Southeast Georgia as well so we're kind of in the front end of this we we see a a really heavy rainband about to make its way looks like it's going to slide the worst of it now on the edge of what was an eyewall now filling in uh going to slide just to the west of Lake City nonetheless driving up and down 75 right now quite treacherous heavy rainfall now for uh the west side of Klay County heading up through uh middleberg the Black Creek is getting a lot of water and we heard the governor a little bit earlier mention this having impacts in the 5 to 10 day range the storm will be long gone but the water that'll be filling in from the Swani River Valley out west into the Creeks into the tributaries of the St John's river the St Mary's River we could be dealing with flooding in in the coming weeks we'll have to watch those River levels you see everything lifting up through L you're getting the heavy storm that's now made its way up towards Balwin on the west side of Jacksonville downtown some heavy downpours and that's uh just causing a lot of issues on the interstates a couple of different computer models I want you to see uh this in particular model has what the National Hurricane has been leaning towards that sharp turn to the north as we get towards the middle and end of the week and then up towards the Northeast the GFS the American model has been painting this resolution which would be a stall out over the coast of Georgia then backing back up bringing a lot more rain into SouthEast Georgia and lingering through Thursday before moving North Friday hence such a wide cone once we get out past uh the for next 36 to 48 Hours your expected rainfall totals to be historic levels as you get up to the low country of South Carolina up towards Charleston where they can get uh 2T to 30 in of rain there and looking a little bit closer that 7 to 8 to 12 Ines possible through Glen County so showing you the 7-day forecast the main impacts for today and into tomorrow and even perhaps early Wednesday morning before we can kind of say goodbye to the immediate threats and think about that potential flooding on the uh the rivers and the other waterways out there as well and we work to the end of the week and get some regular old convection going so let's uh let's get through these next couple of days shall we let's get on the roads with Katie Jeff in the UF Health traffic center we got a crash causing major delays along I95 on the southbound side near the exit for the airport so over here you can see it looks like maybe a FedEx truck here is kind of Jack knifed because it's going parallel here to the road and you can see it looks like maybe one lane and the shoulder is what traffic is using to try and get past this crash again this is on 95 southbound near the exit for the airport so you can see Heavy delays in that area and when we were taking a look in that camera you could see just how much rain was coming down and all of the ponding that is on the roadway so hydroplaning a big risk out there today and you add in the wind that can really kind of move you around conditions are pretty rough to be able to be driving 295 southbound that ramp from 17 you've got a crash there as well possible a lane there is blocked not seeing any major delays but and whenever I look in the camera for the Buckman Bridge it definitely looks pretty rough to be able to be driving it almost looks like kind of blinding rain in that area but again we will keep watching we going to back it up this crash here at 95 southbound just before the exit for the airport this is going to take some time to be able to move so we'll keep following it discuss their response to the storm this morning we want to listen in to what they had to say as they told their Crews to get ready again this happened just a short time ago let's listen in right now we've got about nine outages on the system a little over 800 customers out and how are people in your Cru preparing for that our crews have been techic preparing since late last week uh we've been watching the storm closely and we've been preparing over the weekend um you can see we got all the equipment out here ready to go U we've got plenty of material and Equipment Personnel ready to respond to any does that may occur on the system are there any specific areas that you're looking at paying close attention to right now the Mandarin area usually down around Mandarin point they do take a lot of wind and it gets saturated with all this rain so we do expect fall on trees in that area whenever you say outages what are you seeing are you seeing an impact on power lines water normally when I talk about allergies I'm referring to the Electric System and most of that's going to be from down trees or allergies caused by winds limbs falling on trees things like that and I know that it's an all Hands-On deck type of situation could you talk a little bit about the number of Crews that are out that are ready to work just in case anything happens absolutely we got roughly 30 overhead line Crews or actually 30 Crews uh combined we've got over 200 line workers ready to respond right are you all prepared for to fear I know that you all are in constant contact with the city about what exactly they're doing to prepare as well to help you all out absolutely we're very prepared we've got enough equipment Personnel material to pretty much rebuild any damage that the system would sustain in this kind of event and what message do you have to customers who are concerned if they need anything from need help or anything what should they do right so no AB I've got a lot of information for customers number one is safety right so just please be careful around the cruise please be mind give them plenty of room to work if there is an outage right there more more likely going to see a down power line or a tree falling on a power line please don't approach it call 665 6000 and report that condition we will respond any advice that you have for customers as well I know that you already talked about keeping staying a close distance or or good enough distance from Cruz but any other advice for people if they do have an outage what they should do I know you gave that number but some people sometimes want to fix it themselves or try to figure out what to do without trying to call you guys yeah absolutely do not try to fix it yourself right safety's Paramount and please be patient U record the outage we will respond we will get to you now ja has done a lot of preventative measures since June 1st how is that actually coming into play for a storm like hurricane de today that's an excellent question so we do have a very robust tree triming cycle and a very robust pole replacement program so what we do is we inspect our polls every eight years anything that's damaged or cracked or may look like a risk is replaced and then same with the tree trimming um we do they trim our circuits every two two and a half years so our vegetation man Management program is very very good well what that the point of that is to try to keep any vegetation near the lines cleared in case of St like this were to happen it U there would be less risk of a limb falling on the power line right and last question for me what are your crews are going to look like once the storm is over what is the cleanup process look for everyone right so we'll still have all hands on deck usually for a good 24-hour period post storm we'll go to all the areas we were at clean up any um material that was left on site and then uh take care of any small remaining outages or customer connections I know the area that um tends to see a lot of flooding and some issues is um San Marco is that an area that you all are also focusing on as well I know you mentioned Mander right um we do focus on San Marco they do sustain a lot of flooding um if they I don't think we're anticipating a tremendous amount of flooding out there right now but if it were to happen we'll be ready to respond all right I'll take a look at the latest on our storm you know what 75 mph winds near that Center but I wouldn't be surprised this is downgraded to a tropical storm doesn't mean it's over yet though and also still on the back side of this we have the inflow and that's where we could be looking at that potential uh for tornadoes as we go ahead through the rest of this afternoon into evening as this all lifts off towards the north so of course right now it is windy out there we just saw wind gust over 50 m hour at Jacksonville International still looking at some Gusty conditions as this all drifts off there towards the north there's a look at your track at this time but we got an update coming out in just about four minutes watching those roadways for you this is a look towards I95 southbound near the exit for the airport you can see multiple lanes blocked by a truck that looks like it may have Jack knifed in that area and traffic is kind of Getting By basically using the shoulder so causing big delays [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]