Tropical Storm Debby makes landfall as hurricane, leaving Florida with blackouts, four dead, and 32 kilos of cocaine

Tropical Storm Debby made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday but has since been downgraded back to a tropical storm, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). And it is expected to cause major flooding in the southeastern United States over the next few days.

The storm, which killed four, reportedly left Florida with floods, power outages, and 32 kilos of cocaine that washed ashore in the northwestern part of the state.

Reports indicated as many as 135,000 people lost power in the Sunshine State and that 25 packages of cocaine washed ashore in the small island town of Cedar Key.

According to a NHC bulletin issued at 5:00 a.m. ET on Monday, Debby was 30 miles from Valdosta, Georgia, and by 5:00 a.m. the agency reported the storm was causing “historic heavy rainfall across southeast Georgia and eastern South Carolina through Friday,” and that it would likely result in “catastrophic flooding.”

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 miles per hour and was moving in a north-northeast direction at 6 miles per hour.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday afternoon that the Levy County Sheriff's Office confirmed a 13-year-old minor died after a branch fell on his home in Fanning Springs and that three others died in traffic accidents in Dixie and Hillsborough Counties.

The governor has already mobilized 17,000 lineman to restore power and up to 3,500 National Guardsmen (FLNG) to provide support. The FLNG is reportedly establishing a Joint Operation Center in St. Augustine on the northeast corridor of the state.

Meanwhile, in the northwestern part of Florida, authorities learned of a shocking discovery after a “Good Samaritan” filed a report with law enforcement officials.

Samuel Briggs II, who heads the Miami sector of the Custom Border Patrol as acting chief, said in a social media post that the storm washed 25 packages with almost 32 kilos of cocaine onto the shores of Cedar Key, a small island town located in the northwest of the state.

He said the total value of the newly discovered narcotic drug was about a million dollars.

“Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine (70 lbs.) onto a beach in the Florida Keys. Good Samaritan discovered the drugs & contacted authorities. U.S. Border Patrol seized the drugs, which have a street value of over $1 million dollars,” the CBP chief wrote.

Cocaine has been discovered on various occasions off Florida beaches and its coastline in the past few years since it is close to Caribbean transit hubs used to traffic illegal narcotics from South America to the United States and Europe.

Briggs said that in June, recreational boaters off the Florida Key coastline discovered 65 pounds of cocaine in the ocean.

Five years ago, in 2019, bricks of cocaine were discovered on two Florida beaches after Hurricane Dorian struck the state, and in 2023, packages of cocaine worth more than $100,000 washed up on several Florida beaches.

Also last year, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, while on a fishing trip with her family, reeled in 70 pounds of cocaine. 

A tropical storm warning remained in effect for St. Augustine, Florida to the South Santee River in South Carolina and Cape Fear, North Carolina.

Meanwhile, a storm surge warning remained in effect for the Georgia coast up to the Mouth of St. Mary's and South Santee River of South Carolina to Cape Fear.

DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 61 counties, most of which line up along the Gulf Coast in northern Florida, although including Monroe County, anticipating the impact of the rains and winds that this system may leave.

Debby is the second Atlantic hurricane of the season to make landfall in the United States after Beryl, which hit Texas last July, leaving at least 23 dead and causing blackouts in several parts of the state for days and amid a wave of extreme heat.

So far this hurricane season in the Atlantic basin, which began on June 1, four tropical storms have formed, Alberto, Beryl, Chris and Debby.

This Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be one of the most active and intense in decades, with up to 25 storms and 13 hurricanes forming.