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Hurricane Debby
The Category 1 storm made landfall around 7:15 a.m. in Steinhatchee. Even before it did, thousands of customers of Clay Electric, Duke Energy and Gainesville Regional Utilities were without power. Rain is expected to continue throughout Monday, likely resulting in totals between eight and 12 inches and flooding in certain parts of our region, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke at 7:30 this morning from the Florida Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee, saying of the rainfall, "We're going to see effects of that not just today but in the ensuing days."
Our Florida Public Radio Emergency Network colleagues said the storm was expected to slow down as the day goes on, dumping inches of rain across north Florida, Georgia and into South Carolina.
Follow our hour-by-hour updates here throughout the day.
• Associated Press: Cedar Key, Big Bend region deal with Hurricane Debby, less than a year after Idalia. "'Right now, we are to trying secure everything from floating away,' Sheryl Horne said on Sunday. Her family owns the Shell Island Fish Camp along the Wakulla River in St. Marks, Florida, where some customers moved their boats inland. The sparsely populated Big Bend region in the Florida Panhandle also was hit last year by Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane."
• News Service of Florida: Debby is expected to bring flooding across north Florida. "Flooding from the storm is expected to continue throughout the week, with life-threatening storm surge along parts of the Gulf Coast between the Ochlockonee River and Suwannee River, according to the center."
• Spectrum News: Massive tree on home in Dunedin, conditions expected to worsen in Crystal River. "The effects of Tropical Storm Debby are being felt throughout the Bay area, including in Dunedin, where a large tree fell on a home. It happened as Debby moved up the coast, spawning several tornado warnings."
• WTSP-Tampa: POWER OUTAGES: More than 73K customers without power across Florida. "Heavy rainfall, flash flooding, storm surge and isolated tornado risks are anticipated as the storm continues its trek. The impacts of Debby also include power outages. Currently, tens of thousands of Floridians are without power across the state."
• WFLA-Tampa Bay: Man catches catfish in flooded St. Petersburg street. "While flooded streets might not be suitable for vehicles, another unlikely traveler managed to find their way through St. Pete’s streets."
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Today's other Florida stories
• Associated Press: A ruling finds Florida's transgender health care ban is discriminatory. "A federal judge has ruled that Florida’s transgender health care ban discriminates against state employees and violates their civil rights. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker ruled Thursday that the state's ban violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees and job applicants from employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin."
• WUSF-Tampa: Why several Florida universities will face challenges in the search for a new president. "Jeff Brandes, a former state senator who sponsored the legislation changing the process of searching for university presidents, spoke Friday with Matthew Peddie on The Florida Roundup. He said the law was not being used as he intended when Sasse was hired. The law exempted applicants as public records until the end of the search when only finalists were revealed. UF was criticized for revealing only one finalist: Sasse."
• Florida Politics: University of Florida has financial performance upgraded by S&P. "The University of Florida (UF) is financially sound, as evidenced by its debt rating. S&P Global Ratings has upgraded the school’s debt outlook to positive from stable."
• WLRN-Miami: Can Florida’s lagging film industry attract big-budget movies and TV again?"Beautiful coastlines. Swamps. Vibrant neighborhoods and urban scenes. What’s not to like about shooting scripted Hollywood films and television series in Florida? Well — the cost. 'It’s much more “reasonable to shoot in Atlanta or Louisiana and pretend it's Florida,' said Bill Lawrence, a Hollywood producer best known for television series like 'Scrubs' and 'Ted Lasso.'"
• Associated Press: Clearwater native Bobby Finke sets 1,500 freestyle world record on final night of Olympic swimming. "Finke set the third swimming world record of these Olympics and provided a much-needed jolt for the mighty American team, which leads the overall medal count but had endured a series of disappointing results from some of its biggest swimmers."
From NPR News
• Politics: Trump posts about a new debate plan, and Harris pushes back
• Health: Heat training can help athletes — and the rest of us — adapt to hotter weather
• Health: Why we need to talk about teens, social media and mental health
• National: Wyoming offers to sell land to Grand Teton park — or it could go to developers
Ethan Magoc curated today's edition of The Point.