NORFOLK, Va. — From FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C., the agency’s director of recovery, Colt Hagmaier, is warning people in Tropical Storm Debby’s path to take the storm seriously.
"It’s a tropical storm so I think there’s a tendency to perhaps underestimate it," he said. “This is a storm with a lot of rain in it and there’s a lot of risk that’s associated with Topical Storm Debby that’s not over.”
Debby’s destructive power is already evident. The storm flooded Florida and is dumping rain on the Carolinas. The outer bands are now bringing rain to Hampton Roads, Virginia. States of emergency have been declared in Virginia and North Carolina ahead of the storm due to potential flooding.
Hagmaier said FEMA is concerned about urban flooding, which is water runoff that has nowhere else to go.
“It’s going to move up through the Mid-Atlantic and up through the Northeast," Hagmaier said. "A lot of areas that are already saturated by recent rainfall.”
He said it’s important people listen to warnings from local and state officials and have a plan to evacuate, just in case.
“My kids are actually down on the Outer Banks, they’re in Kitty Hawk. They’re coming home today because of this storm, a few days early," Hagmaier added.
If flooding affects your home and you don’t have anywhere else to go, text the word "shelter" and your zip code to FEMA at 43362 to find an open emergency shelter nearby.