• Slow-moving Tropical Storm Debby drenches Florida, spawns tornadoes

    Tropical Storm Debby has hammered more than 300 miles of Florida, where there have also been three reported tornadoes. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.

    By Weather.com, msnbc.com staff and news services

    Updated at 11:43 p.m. ET -- Tropical Storm Debby whipped Florida with bands of drenching rain Monday while its center was nearly stationary in the Gulf of Mexico. Its slow progress meant the most pressing threat from the storm was flooding, not wind.


    Florida governor Rick Scott declared a statewide emergency, and a tropical storm warning was in effect for most of the state's Gulf Coast, as the storm parked offshore.

    A tropical storm warning for the coast of Alabama was discontinued early Monday. Yet even with the storm's center far from land, it lashed Florida with heavy rains and spawned isolated tornadoes that killed at least one person. Another person was missing in rough surf off Alabama.

    Residents in several counties near the crook of Florida's elbow were urged to leave low-lying neighborhoods because of the threat of flooding.

    Offshore oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico are also evacuating more than 30 percent of production platforms and rigs that are in the path of Debby. The storm is moving slowly, allowing its clouds more time to unload rain.

    Tropical Storm Debby is expected to move north throughout the week with as many as 15 inches of rain expected in the state. Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore reports.

    The Coast Guard rescued a family Sunday, who were stranded on a small island on the northwestern Florida Gulf coast due to inclement weather caused by the storm.

    Officials at the Coast Guard watch center in Mobile, Ala., received a call around 12:30 p.m. from a man reporting his family of five adults, four children and two dogs were stranded in a vacation house on Dog Island, south of Carrabelle, Fla.

    Water was reportedly surrounding the house, and there was no way for them to evacuate to higher ground. The ship that brought them to the island would not return for them due to rough conditions.

    Rescue crews from the Coast Guard Aviation Training Center deployed a helicopter to the family’s location. The crew hoisted and transported the family, including the dogs, to Carrabelle Airport. No injuries or medical concerns were reported. 

    'Heavy rain'
    High winds forced the closure of an interstate bridge that spans Tampa Bay and links St. Petersburg with areas to the southeast. In several locations, homes and businesses were damaged by high winds authorities believe were from tornadoes.

    Practically parked off Florida's Gulf Coast since the weekend, Debby raked the Tampa Bay area with high wind and heavy rain Monday in a drenching that could top 2 feet over the next few days and has already led to flooding.

    Weather.com severe weather expert Dr. Greg Forbes warned that Debby could spawn isolated tornadoes in Florida through Monday.

    A tropical storm warning remained in effect for the Florida Gulf Coast from Mexico Beach in the Panhandle to Englewood, south of Sarasota.  "Storm surge flooding is also a significant threat along the Florida Panhandle coast and the western coast of Florida since Debby's circulation is embedded in a rather large wind field," Weather.com reported.

    Brad Mcclenny / The Gainesville Sun via AP

    Cedar Key Fire Chief Robert Robinson walks on a section of a floating dock that broke loose during a storm surge from Tropical Storm Debby in Cedar Key, Fla., on Sunday.

    Forecasters said late Monday that the storm was still in the Gulf of Mexico, 35 miles south of Apalachicola, with sustained winds around 45 mph. It was moving northeast at 2 mph, the National Hurricane Center said. The forecast map indicated the storm could inch forward through the week, eventually coming ashore over the Panhandle. However, a storm's path is difficult to discern days in advance.

    Underscoring the unpredictable nature of tropical storms, forecasters discontinued a tropical storm warning Sunday afternoon for Louisiana after forecast models indicated Debby wasn't likely to turn west. At one point, forecasters expected the storm to come ashore in that state.

    "There are always going to be errors in making predictions. There is never going to be a perfect forecast," said Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center.

    The Highlands County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that several tornadoes moved through the area southeast of Tampa, damaging homes.

    Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Nell Hays said a woman was found dead in a house in Venus that was destroyed in the storm. A child found in the same house was taken to the hospital. No further information was available on the child's condition or either person's age.

    Marina's roof torn off
    Authorities urged residents to leave low-lying neighborhoods in Franklin, Taylor and Wakulla counties because of flooding. Shelters were open in the area.

    Wind tore the roof off a marina in St. Pete Beach, and a pier was heavily damaged, said Tom Iovino, a Pinellas County government spokesman. He said no injuries were reported.

    In Orange Beach, Ala., a 32-year-old man disappeared Sunday in rough surf kicked up by the storm, a Coast Guard official said. Further information wasn't immediately available.

    As of Sunday, 23 percent of oil and gas production in the region had been suspended, according to a government hurricane response team. Employees have been evacuated from 13 drilling rigs and 61 production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

    The storm was not expected to result in higher oil and gas prices.

    "It's largely a non-event for oil," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.

    Weather.com, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Tropical Storm Debby turns sights on Florida, Alabama; Gulf oil production curtailed

    A state of emergency has been declared in Louisiana in preparation for Tropical Storm Debby and oil rigs across the Gulf have been evacuated. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports.

    By NBC News and news services

    Updated at 10:13 p.m. ET: Parts of Florida and Alabama were under a tropical storm warning Sunday as Debby churned off the Gulf Coast, leaving wary residents to closely watch a storm whose path has so far been difficult to forecast.

    Underscoring the storm's unpredictable nature, forecasters discontinued a tropical storm warning for Louisiana after forecast models indicated Debby was less likely to make a westward turn than initially predicted. Coastal Alabama and parts of Florida, including the Panhandle, remained under tropical storm warnings.


    Debby already had dumped heavy rain on parts of Florida and spawned some isolated tornadoes, causing some damage to homes and knocking down power lines. High winds forced the closure of an interstate bridge that spans Tampa Bay and links St. Petersburg with areas to the southeast.

    The first named storm of 2012 to enter the Gulf of Mexico, was centered about 115 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola, Florida and was nearly stationary, the National Hurricane Center said in its 7 p.m. CDT update.

    Debby, no longer expected to gain hurricane strength, packed winds of 60 mph, the Miami-based center said.

    Citing a "significant change in the forecast track," the NHC said Debby is expected to hit the Florida Panhandle near Panama City on Thursday as a tropical storm. "This forecast remains uncertain due to weak steering currents," the NHC said.

    The NHC had previously predicted that the storm would track westward toward the Louisiana coast as a weak hurricane, spurring Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal to declare a state of emergency.

    Chris Landsea, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center, said forecasters rely on computer models which were contradictory until Sunday.

    "They came into a bit more of an agreement that the westward turn is less likely," he said.

    Landsea said every storm is different and has different characteristics, "and in this case it's a very unpredictable storm." He said Debby was could become a hurricane.

    A major concern will be flooding from heavy rainfall. Parts of Florida and southeast Georgia could receive 10 to 15 inches of rain, with some areas getting as much as 20, he said.

    NASA via AFP - Getty Images

    This Sunday handout image provided by NASA shows a satellite view of Tropical Storm Debby as it nears the northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

    Debby's top sustained winds were at about 60 mph (95 kph). The storm was moving toward the northeast at 3 mph (6 kph).

    Near the mouth of the Mississippi southeast of New Orleans, Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said officials were making preparations to protect the main highway from tidal flooding.

    At least one tornado linked to the storm touched down Saturday in southwest Florida, but no injuries were reported. Another was reported Sunday in Venice, damaging some homes.

    "This is quite common with this type of storm," senior hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart with the National Hurricane Center said of the twisters. "They tend to not be very large or long-lived, which can be difficult to detect on radar. So people need to keep an eye on the sky."

    Debby has shut nearly a quarter of offshore crude oil and natural gas production, the U.S. government said.

    BP Plc, the largest oil producer in the Gulf of Mexico, shut in all of its production. The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only U.S. port for handling the largest oil tank ships, stopped operating due to rough seas.

    ConocoPhillips and Royal Dutch Shell Plc had also shut some of their production as of Sunday as the first storm of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season to threaten offshore production gained strength in the Gulf.

    The storm has a 30 percent chance of reaching hurricane strength before landfall and could temporarily disrupt 55 percent of Gulf offshore oil production and 44 percent of natural gas production due to short-term evacuations, according to Weather Insight, a unit of Thomson Reuters.

    Despite storm warnings in the Panhandle, Debby hadn't totally dampened vacations.

    Thousands were on the beach at Pensacola Beach, Fla., on Sunday morning. Many used their phones to take photos of huge waves crashing into the concrete supports of a fishing pier. There wasn't any rain yet; just gusty winds and dark, fast-moving clouds.

    Few people were in the water. Red flags warned tourists to stay out of the surf, and lifeguards cruised the sand on all-terrain vehicles, blowing whistles at anyone who got near the waves.

    Workers with rental companies used pickup trucks to gather chairs and umbrellas as a precaution against an unusually high tide.

    The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

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